Article Library

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By Pastor Chuck Swindoll

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His Presence in Suffering

“If you learn nothing else in the free fall, you learn you can’t trust in yourself. You don’t have the strength. You’re forced to look up. You have to surrender. And the beauty of it, when we do, God wonderfully comforts us. He doesn’t speak audibly. He doesn’t necessarily remove the test quickly. But He comes in like a flood. And He holds us close to Himself. And He reminds us in a half dozen different ways, I’m right here. I never left. Just lean on Me. Just stay near. Let Me comfort you.”

Comfort Others in Their Affliction

“Who best knows how to understand the loss of a wife than one who’s lost a wife? Who best knows how to comfort a couple who’s lost a baby than another couple who’s lost a baby? Who understands a malignant brain tumor better than the victim and his partner, if he’s married, of the one with the brain tumor? Who understands financial stress better than someone who has gone through or is going through it? It’s like dominoes bumping up against each other. God comforts us in our affliction. We, in turn, comfort another in his or her or their affliction. A major reason we go through such times is to prepare us for a ministry and help to others.”

God Comforts In All Our Affliction

“You’re going to feel at times that the waves will never stop coming. You’ll feel the undertow of discouragement and distress and disappointment and shattered dreams, and you’ll be convinced because the enemy wants you to think this, you’re in the wrong place. Certainly, you’re here at the wrong time. You’re the wrong one to be here. Bail out! Don’t. ‘The Father of mercies and the God of all comfort comforts us in all our affliction.’ I love the word ‘all.’ That covers the things I haven’t mentioned. That covers your particular detail, issue, your struggle.”

God’s Power to Comfort

“In the Old Testament, the greatest example of power was the exodus. In the New Testament, the greatest example is the resurrection. And this God who can pull off resurrection has come to your aid. He will hold you close. He’ll see you through. He won’t bring back your baby who died, but He’ll bring back your soul, your hope that’s been dashed. He’s called the God of all comfort, the Father of mercies.”

Refill Your Tank in God’s Presence

“I think one of the reasons the psalmist mentions the importance of stopping everything and learning anew that He is God is because in the midst of a hectic kind of nonstop schedule, there isn’t much room for quietness or solitude. I urge you, as you go through these years, to build into your schedule some time to be quiet, to be still, to be alone, and to learn that God is God. I urge you to form the habit here. You’ll find in your life many times it will be there in the future when you’re alone with Him that your tank is refilled, your hope is renewed.”

Additional Resources

First, sign up for our Chuck’s Insights on Ministry email where we bring you his best thoughts on preaching, leadership, and ministry each week. By signing up, you’ll instantly receive a one-page checklist with 20 preaching insights from Chuck. See this page’s sidebar.

Second, check out our new Preach The Word articles and video series on YouTube where we’re teaching Chuck’s best insights on this important calling.

Third, listen to Chuck’s messages to those in ministry through our Seminary Chapels page. For decades, he offered students at Dallas Theological Seminary his best thoughts on church leadership and ministry. Now, we have put them at your fingertips. Also, you can find them through this YouTube playlist we created for you.

Fourth, if you don’t own a copy of Chuck’s book on preaching, Saying It Well, we highly recommend you add it to your library. It’s his preaching memoir that is also like a practical preaching manual. You won’t be able to put it down.

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