July Blog
“God is Our Comforter”
Good morning. It’s another beautiful day here in the Northwest. I just can’t believe this spring. It’s just been so wonderful. I feel like God is spoiling us. Especially as we’re looking forward to the summer, I’m just trying to live outside as much as I possibly can.
Today, I’m joining you from my front deck, where I love to spend time with the Lord, and especially in this little hammock chair I have here. I find it very comforting.
And that’s what I want to talk to you about today, is comfort.
If you have ever given birth, or attended a childbirth, or been at the side of a loved one as they take their last breath, you know that we humans need comfort from the cradle to the grave.
I’ve searched the Bible, and though there are many, many comforting scriptures, the word comfort itself only appears about 66 times in the Bible. And one of the things that’s so special about the comfort we receive from God is that the Holy Spirit Himself is called The Comforter. That’s His name. Jesus said that it was actually good for Him to leave this earth, to leave the disciples because if He would leave, then The Comforter would come.
I’ve talked with many widows who have told me that since their husband left for heaven, they’ve experienced the comfort of God. They’ve experienced a closer relationship with God than they ever dreamed possible because The Comforter does come. He does bring us comfort as no one else ever could.
And yet, the Bible says that we also have a responsibility to comfort one another. I just want to share some thoughts with you from 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Paul says:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion, and the God of all comfort. Who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
We also know from reading in the book of Hebrews that Jesus was our High Priest, the Great High Priest—in fact He still is our Great High Priest. But one of the things that makes Him so great is that He can identify with our feelings. He can identify with our pain because He suffered that as well when He took on the form of a baby and grew up in this world. He said in this world we would have tribulation, but to be of good cheer, for He has overcome the world, and He truly has.
But back to our scripture here,
For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also, through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort which produces in you patient endurance.
Isn’t there any other way to get patient endurance? Do we have to go through troubles and trials and be comforted?
Well, yes. That’s the way it goes in this world. But He’s not left us alone as we go through these trials. He’s with us. And He says, Paul goes on to say:
And our hope for you is firm because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
But back to verse 4, it says:
Who comforts us (Jesus Christ) and the God of compassion, the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
Today I’m thinking of some very special friends, Ruth Ann Ost Martinez and Nancy Honeytree. They’re a powerful duo for Christ. Both of these precious women went through a Zoom class with my co-director of The Widows Project, Linda Smith and me. Nancy had been widowed several years prior and Ruth Ann was in the first year of her widowhood. And after 12 weeks of our Zoom class together, Ruth Ann said, “I can’t keep this comfort to myself.” Just as Paul says here, we comfort others with the comfort we have received from Christ.
Nancy and Ruth Ann, together with their amazing team, went on to establish a ministry called Legado de Acompañamiento. Say that ten times! I’m not a Spanish speaker.
But right now, in Mexico City, they are having a conference for over 1,600 people who have experienced all kinds of losses. And because Ruth Ann and Nancy received comfort, they are spreading that to now literally thousands of people all over Latin America.
So, God comforts us. We comfort others. And that chain of comfort goes on and on and on for the glory of God.
Also, as we comfort others, we know that we are ministering to those who might otherwise become angry at God when they suffer in this life. We can show them that when we suffer God is the One we can turn to to receive comfort.
God bless you today.
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