When someone you love is suffering, sometimes it's tough to discern what they actually need from you.

Compassion? Pity? A shoulder to cry on?

Well, today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindall presents a biblical model for coming alongside the suffering.

He cites four practical steps.

The first is compassion, then instruction, exhortation, and fourth, intercession.

In this study of Second Thessalonians, Chuck reminds us that God doesn't promise to rescue us from hardship,

but instead, he promises to walk with us through the hardship. Chuck titled his message,

Light for Dark Days.

Now, these Thessalonians were going through hard times.

I just learned this week in my study that Pliny the Elder during the days of the Roman Empire

stated the first place Gentile Christians were killed was Thessalonica.

So we're not surprised when we come to verse 13 to discover that the first

response in encouraging the suffering is compassion. But we should always give thanks to God

for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord. It must have been wonderful to hear words like,

I give thanks to God for you. And you are, brethren, beloved by the Lord. Those two statements

drip with compassion. The first one upholds the dignity

of each individual who is suffering. I give thanks to God for you. And the second affirms their

security in the family of God. After compassion is the need for instruction,

and I don't necessarily give these to you in a one, two, three fashion. They might change

in the process of time as you express these to your suffering friend. But I think instruction

is also needed for the hurting or by the hurting.

Notice how he puts it in verse 13. We should always give thanks to God for you, brethren,

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