Don’t hide your hurt!

2 Corinthians 1:5–6
5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.

One of the greatest issues in times of affliction is our desire to hide. You do not have to handle it alone.

Paul is urging those he loves: Don’t hide your hurt. Don’t fight alone. It is not good, nor is it required. There is comfort available. You can have hope even in the midst of affliction.

Toward the end of Paul’s opening introduction, he moves from the chair to the couch and shares how he has recently experienced real trouble—trouble he truly believed would lead to death—and yet God spared him.

Paul learns in that moment not to hold in his hurt, but to let it out and share it.

Paul says: I learned to rely not on myself but on God who raises the dead.

I learned I was powerless and He is all-powerful.
I learned that I was limited and He is infinite.
I learned that I am weak and He is strong.
I learned that I am not enough and He is more than enough.
I learned I can’t cause anything—and He can raise the dead to life.

I learned to shift what I trusted in. Affliction humbled me to trust, not control.

For many of you, your first step today needs to be to share your hurts with God.

What is overwhelming you? Stressing you? Shaming you? Creating fear within you?
What is broken that needs repair? What is lost that needs to be found? What seems hopeless that needs an injection of hope?

Don’t hide your hurt. Share it with the God who hears your prayers and acts on your behalf.
And if you can’t share it with Him—who can you share it with?