“But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay” (II Corinthians 1:18).

The apostle Paul in II Corinthians 1 and 2 reminds us of some marvelous truths about the Person and work of God. It would be good for us to lay these truths in our hearts and to daily remember them. God is a God of all truth: “But as God is true” (1:18). How basic it is to understand that “God is true.” He is true as to His nature and He is true as to His promises. “For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory of God” (II Corinthians 1:20). God is a God of all comfort: “Blessed be God . . . the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” (1:3,4). When the pressures of life overwhelm; when sufferings seem unbearable; when persecutions come with great force, remember that God is the God of all comfort. He is a God of answered prayer. “Ye also helping together by prayer for us” (1:11). Has it gripped our hearts that prayer really helps? That prayer works? Can a praying believer move the hand of God? Yes! “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24). He is a God of grace and peace: “Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:2). Someone once said that grace was imparted power and peace was implanted confidence. We need both. God is a God of all triumph: “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place . . . and who is sufficient for these things?” (2:14,16).

No Christian is sufficient of himself. His sufficiency truly must come from God (II Corinthians 3:5). NPS