Quiet Time today

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.
7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
8We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
9Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,
11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Yes, indeed the sorrow in my heart sometimes overwhelms me and causes me to despair even of life (v8). I don't understand why things happen the way they did, and they still happen. "What good can come out of it?" I asked my God.

But as I read and reread this passage and the other parts of the Bible, God offers His comfort and peace to us as we seek Him. God leads me today as He leads Joseph in the Old Testament, and as Joseph and countless others faced challenges, disappointments and defeats, they did not grumble or ask why, they just continued to walk with God. They relied on God (v9), and their suffering has a purpose (v4-6).

Oh God please help me to walk with You like that!

One day when I see You, the answers will be there,
but perhaps those answers will not be necessary at all...