Skip to main content

Un-Comfort-Able


Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son.” So his father wept for him. (Genesis 27:34-35)
          How often do we refuse to be comforted? We think we have good reason to be upset. Sometimes, we do have good reason, and sometimes, we don’t. In either case, we are so invested in being upset, so determined to milk it for everything we can that we won’t let go of the pain or the anger.
          Dad is like that today. He doesn’t know where he is, and sometimes he doesn’t know who I am. But he is determined that what he believes to be true is true. He believes we’re in Florida and all the evidence we show that he’s in Pennsylvania is stuff we’re using to trick him for some unknown reason.
          As tragic as that is to deal with for him and us, we do the same thing all the time. We say “God is in control. God is good,” then go on and on about whatever is bothering us. In spite of what Scripture says, we tell others that we aren’t in a state of blessedness, but in the state of cursedness. Things are not as they should be because they are not as we’d like them. We refuse to be comforted.
          What does it take to be comfort-able? It takes being wiling to relax, to stay where we are, and allow others to be involved. It takes submission. It takes accepting what others give. It takes believing that something positive can happen. It takes hope. Right now, that’s a little difficult to find. WDA. WDA. Sometimes, when our focus is on reality as we dictate it, it takes letting go of what we demand

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...