If you’ve driven I-40 through Little Rock, you know how monstrous the potholes are. If you haven’t driven I-40 in AR, just imagine someone accidentally detonated 500lbs of dynamite in the middle of a highway and you’d have an fairly accurate depiction. In fact, I have been on roads in third world countries that were in better shape than that stretch of highway. I remember one time in particular I was driving a rental car through the city. This specific rental had a myriad of issues attached to it, one of them being a sensitive radio volume knob. While fiddling with the radio, I took my eyes off the road for two seconds and ended up drilling one of the largest potholes on the road (maybe even in the world). As the car absorbed the impact, every single light on the dash illuminated like the Rockefeller tree, the windshield wipers started swiping, and I remember looking out my passenger window to see a hubcap rolling off into the sunset.
Sometimes in an effort to “fix” a small situation, we end up causing a larger problem. It would have been better for me to temporarily deal with an overly sensitive radio knob until I was parked somewhere. Instead, I opted to distract myself from the unknowns of the Little Rock freeway. When we move from a state of focusing on the spiritual to a state of being physically indulged, our problems start to spiral out of our grasp; causing a spectacular display of absolute chaos. Only God can silence such a storm.
Notice the text of 2 Corinthians 1 and the encouragement Paul gives the church to embrace the comfort of God:
Comfort comes from relying on God (1:9) — Paul states that the discomfort they experienced was an opportunity for them to unplug from themselves and fully anticipate the power of God. It’s not that Paul and the other disciples stopped living or stopped their pursuits, but that they simply allowed God to resume His role as God.
Comfort comes from hope in God (1:10) — Hope is a beautiful word, especially to a Christian. For it is in hope that individuals look forward to tomorrow; whatever that might entail. The language used in 2 Cor. 1:10 is the intentional placement of hope “we have placed our hope on God” — where is your hope? Are you still holding on to it and trying to shape it? Perhaps it is time to set it on God.
Comfort comes from prayer to God (1:11) — if there is one area in my Christianity I wish I was better at, it’s prayer. I am confident that the remedy to discomfort is a constant communion with our Maker, our Sustainer, and our Deliverer. It’s interesting that Jesus instructed His followers would “pray at all times so as to not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). The opposite is just as true, in that we begin losing heart if we keep prayer as a inconsistent practice. Pray more, and you will find weights being lifted.
When something comes up that needs your attention, wait until you can find a time to pull over, look to God, and press forward.
Tyler King