Needing some comfort?

 

With the deaths of my sister and her grandson, and the deaths of friends from Covid, I’ve prayed much this year that God would comfort His people. Yet in our human sinfulness, we sometimes turn to other sources. We look for people to do it, or distract ourselves with activities like shopping, baking, even sleep, or try everything from music to chemicals and drugs to calm ourselves instead of turning to the One who has great compassion on His people. As David said, the Lord’s presence has great value, even in the worst discomfort of all — the threat of death:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

He and others who wrote the psalms knew that when they needed His comfort God could bring them strength. They said things like this:

Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me. (Psalm 86:17)

When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O Lord. (Psalm 119:52)

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. (Psalm 131:1–2)

For the Lord will vindicate his people andhave compassion on his servants. (Psalm 135:14)

All these verses use the word “to COMFORT” which means “to alleviate sorrow or distress; give emotional strength to” and describes what many of us need these days — a touch from our Almighty God to give us “gladness for sorrow” and “consolation” in our troubles and confusion.

In the NT, people comfort people yet the greatest source is God whom we bless:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 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. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3–7)

This comfort from God not only does its job but gives purpose to itself and to the suffering it alleviates. Because of both experiences, I can have compassion on others who suffer. When I get sick, I feel for others who are sick. When I struggle with problems, I can more easily relate to others who struggle. When I suffer loss, I have greater empathy for others who are grieving. Not only that, whatever God uses to comfort me in those experiences I can use to bless and comfort others.

When my father died, many people tried to comfort me but most of what they said or did fell short. Then an obviously excited young woman bounced up and said, “I know this may sound a little strange, but I am so happy for your dad.” That was comfort! She took my mind off ‘poor me’ and put it on the joy in heaven that my father was experiencing. God bless her. That same thought carries me through grief and it does the same for others whose loved ones have gone into the presence of the Lord.

God comforts the downcast, sends encouraging words and people to us, and gives us whatever we need to alleviate our pain and build us up in truth and in a positive sense that His will is being done and it is right. In trials, the enemy will whisper, ‘God does not love you . . . look what is happening’ but the Spirit of God says just the opposite. For this reason, Jesus called Him The Comforter.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Using Scripture to gaze at the character of the Lord helps me to realize that no matter what is happening, He is with me, He knows how I feel, and He will never stop loving me or caring about my situation, even using it for good — to transform me into the likeness of His Son. His goals give life’s sorrows a great purpose and that purpose gives me great comfort!

 

Hang on to faith . . .

 

1 Kings 6; Psalm 86; Ezekiel 36; Ephesians 3

This week I’ve considered the state of our world, the seemingly lack of power in the church and in my own self — and became quite discouraged. The desire to pray is gone at times and that frightens me. Is this old age? Or another spiritual battle? This morning, the psalmist gave me two prayers:

“Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name” (Psalm 86:11) and “Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.” (Psalm 86:17)

The first one requests focus for a wandering mind; I need that. The second is not so much about me as it is about all God’s people who are hated and longing for the Lord to show us His great power and faithfulness.

In the next two readings, the Lord gave me a brief history lesson, one that reminds me of His character and another that points to His unchanging grace and plan for His people.

Ezekiel starts out describing the disobedience of Israel and how the Lord was angry with their bloodshed and idolatry. He scattered them among the nations and judged for what they had done but the nations noticed and questioned how God’s people could be scattered like this. Then God said:

“I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses.”

With this, He promised to heal their land, restore prosperity and cause them to remember and loathe their sin. He would cleanse them from it and turn the waste places back like Eden so that “the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord” and so Israel “will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 36:16–38)

Some say this will happen in a future time. Others say it was fulfilled in the church because the Body of Christ became the new people of God and the new “Israel” . . . “the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

Whatever it means, it is clear that the God who created all things “has through the church made known His manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” Because of His eternal purpose realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, His people “have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.”

The author of Ephesians then says:

“So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father . . . that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being . . . that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend  . . .  the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:1–21)

APPLY: Don’t give up. The God who can ‘fix all messes’ is able to deal with the mess our world is now in and He can restore those who have fallen into sin, despair, and this feeling of hopelessness. The enemy knows what He is doing in His people and doesn’t want us to be full of hope and boldness. Hang on, trust God who is at work.