God of All Comfort
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (ESV)3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 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. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
There was a little girl whose neighborhood friend died. The little girl went to her friend’s house and when she returned home the mother asked where she had been. The little girl told her mother she had gone to comfort the mother of her friend. Her mother asked what she did to make the family feel better. The child answered that she crawled up in her friend’s mother’s lap and they just cried together.
Comfort. What do you think of when you hear the word comfort? Sometimes we think of the food we had we when we were children, especially when we were sick. Chicken noodle soup, Hawaiian Punch, applesauce and graham crackers. Sometimes it is snuggling under a soft blanket. Regardless of how we define comfort, we all want it.
In today’s scripture, Paul not only speaks comfort to the Corinthians, but he tells them that the pain and suffering they are enduring can achieve a higher purpose. For, as God comforts them, they will be able to comfort others.
Do you recall the Roman view of success? The Romans believed if you were successful it was because the gods were smiling upon you. Likewise if you were suffering it was because you had angered the gods.
Paul constantly fought against this type of wrong thinking. Jesus said in Matt 5:45 that the sun shines on the good and the evil and the rain falls on the just and the unjust. Earlier Jesus said blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted. So, a right understanding of the way we receive comfort from God and bring comfort to others is kingdom thinking.
Had you ever thought of comfort in this light? A few years ago there was a movie called pay it forward. A little boy began this movement to pay forward any good deeds to another person and that person would do the same and it would just keep going.
Today’s scripture is like a pay it forward scripture. To those of us who may have ever been tempted to ask “why me” when something bad happens, we are reminded that when bad things happen to us, God comforts us and we can then comfort others in the same way,
As a pastor I am often asked questions for which I have no good answer. The older person asks why am I still here? The wife of a young man killed in an ATV accident asks is it too late for him to be saved? When my 36 year old nephew died from a heart attack I asked why him? I’ve lived my life. Why couldn’t you take me instead?
The mysteries of this life are just that, mysteries. When something bad happens, well meaning people will often say it is all God’s will, but I need to remind you that God’s creation began in the Garden of Eden. Everything was perfect. It is not God’s will that we suffer. It is not God’s will that we have to say goodbye too soon to a loved one. But sin brought sickness and death, and until Jesus returns to restore the world God created, there will be suffering.
(NRSV) Rev. 21; 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
I pray that you would be at peace today and everyday, knowing that whatever happens in your life, you can receive comfort that comes only from a personal relationship with Jesus.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Seeking an understanding
Prov (NIV) 2:1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding —
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.
The second verse, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—I have one ear from which I hear better than the other. I will be on the phone with my sister and say, “Wait, let me switch to my good ear,” to which she always replies, “Carol, you don’t have a good ear.”
Today’s reading calls for me to turn my good ear to wisdom, to search for it and then store it in my heart. Wisdom is more than knowledge. Wisdom is having an insight, an understanding into Who God is and Who we are in Him.
I think I know Who God is, and after all of these years I know who I am in Him—I am a child of the One, True and Living God, a child of the King. I was made in His image, and my desire is to walk with Him all the days of my life, to love Him more, and to see others through His eyes.
May you and I walk together as we seek out God’s understanding as though it were treasure, receiving His promises that He will protect the ways of His faithful ones.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Be Strong
(NIV) Psalm27:13 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
I love the Scriptures encouraging us to “be strong.” Some people have great physical strength. Others have a mental strength enabling them to overcome difficulties, while still others have a moral strength, sometimes called integrity, that protects them from falling into questionable situations.
Personally, my strength comes from the experience of seeing God work time after time.
It is God Who gives me the strength of my convictions, it is the Bible that provides the structure to know who God is, and it is prayer that connects and powers the engine of my life called faith.
So when I am in a season of waiting, I have no need to be anxious because that is when I know that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” and “greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world .” And I know, believe and understand that “tribulation works patience, patience experience, and experience hope.”
May we each, today and everyday, take joy in waiting for the Lord. And may we remain strong. knowing that hope is on the horizon.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Seeking the heart of God
(NIV) Ps 119:58 I have sought your face with all my heart;
be gracious to me according to your promise.
59 I have considered my ways
and have turned my steps to your statutes.
60 I will hasten and not delay
to obey your commands
As I go through Psalm 119, I am purposing to slow myself down to allow the words to seep into my spirit. Seeking God and seeking holiness has been my life’s theme for many years.
Sometimes I feel the need to remind myself and others that I do not write because I have all of the answers. I write because I am still a student of the Word, a follower of the Rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth.
I find myself going to the Word not just early in the morning but several times a day. Sometimes I find myself looking up a familiar passage to refresh my memory. Other times I look for a particular theme.
And as I contemplate the goodness of the Lord, I find myself remembering once again one of the old songs of the church:
1.Tell me the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word;
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard.
Tell how the angels in chorus,
Sang as they welcomed His birth,
“Glory to God in the highest!
Peace and good tidings to earth.”
◦ Refrain:
Tell me the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word;
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard.
Almost every morning, songs like this one by Fanny Crosby surface. I pray that I never forget the stories of Jesus, and that these stories continue to influence my life and my treatment of others.
May we stay closely aligned with God’s Word, and may the songs extolling our Lord and Savior forever continually be on our lips.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(NIV) Ps 118:28 You are my God, and I will praise you;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Some days, you just have to praise.
Some days you just have to ask God
To show you the way.
Some days?
Every day.
The Lord is my refuge and my strength. A very present help in time of trouble. Ps 46
He Brought me Out by Henry J. Zelley,, 1898.
1. I’ll sing of His wonderful mercy to me,
I’ll praise Him till all men His goodness shall see;
I’ll sing of salvation at home and abroad,
Till many shall hear the truth and trust in God.
Chorus
He brought me out of the deep miry clay
He set my feet on the solid rock to stay
He put a song in my happy heart today
A song of praise Hallelujah
Some days you just have to sing.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
you are my God, and I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Some days, you just have to praise.
Some days you just have to ask God
To show you the way.
Some days?
Every day.
The Lord is my refuge and my strength. A very present help in time of trouble. Ps 46
He Brought me Out by Henry J. Zelley,, 1898.
1. I’ll sing of His wonderful mercy to me,
I’ll praise Him till all men His goodness shall see;
I’ll sing of salvation at home and abroad,
Till many shall hear the truth and trust in God.
Chorus
He brought me out of the deep miry clay
He set my feet on the solid rock to stay
He put a song in my happy heart today
A song of praise Hallelujah
Some days you just have to sing.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Seeking Holiness 