Skip to main content

Comfort

             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 receive from God. (II Corinthians 1:3-4)

This passage was one of several mentioned in Jesus Always. The idea for the day is that when we are anxious, we should seek God and pour out our troubles to Him, then listen as He comforts us and shows us His perspective. As  usual, when the word comfort is mentioned, I feel morally obligated to point out that the term doesn’t come from the idea of patting someone on the shoulder and saying, “There, there…” It comes from Latin terms meaning with and strength.

          When it comes to children, we tend to comfort them by addressing the problem, whether it’s a dirty diaper or a cut finger, then changing the child’s perspective from “It’s all wrong” to “It’ll be all right.” As they grow, the responsibility for addressing the problem and changing their perspective tends to shift to them.

          As an adult, I hear two seemingly contradictory ideas about comforting others. On the one hand, I’m told we shouldn’t ask someone to change their perspective until we’ve solved their problem. On the other, I’m told we shouldn’t barge in and try to solve their problem or change their perspective. Instead, we should just “be” with them.

          This passage isn’t about comforting someone else. It’s about God comforting us, but our ideas about what it means to comfort someone will color our perceptions of God comforting us. When I am upset (worried, angry, overwhelmed…), I want God to ride in like a knight in shining armor – or like the wrath of God! – and fix the problem. That will eliminate the need for my emotional turmoil, which will naturally transform into rejoicing, gratitude, and worship. What could be more obvious or natural?

          I do not want God to listen to me squawk for an hour… day… year… decade…, waiting for me to listen so He can tell me that I’m an idiot for having thought that way, and the reality is ____. I may be the idiot described, but I don’t want to hear it, and I don’t want to wait a decade for the situation to resolve itself, whether by changing my circumstances or my perspective. In other words, I don’t want God to just “be” with me. Neither do I really want to change my perspective. Like an infant, I want God to fix my problems for me and then tell me it will be all right. I doubt I’m alone in this.

          The big keys of this passage (at least today) seem to be that God is very patient – what someone described as a 3-mile-per-hour God – and that His goal in comforting us isn’t to make us feel better but to make us be better by teaching us how to listen and to comfort.

Comments

Post a Comment

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more