What gives you comfort when you need it most?
Macaroni and cheese, meatloaf, pizza, ice cream, and soup, are considered comfort foods. There is a slogan that says: “Comfort food is wanting a hearty meal and a little taste of home.” That is what defines comfort foods.
After experiencing a loss or disappointment who is your go to person? Is it a friend? Or maybe your mother? A mother’s role never stops in being able to have those magic words that lessen the hurt and helps to restore hope. Mother’s know how to listen and nurture. Mother’s are born with compassion.
Personal contact is needed when sharing grief.
Job’s friends were not the best comforters. They assumed that suffering and tragedy was punishment of some kind of sin. They thought they had the answers as to the why rather than trying to be of help to Job. Then they took offense when Job didn’t agree with their assessments.
But God and His Word is the epicenter of finding genuine and lasting comfort. Here are several verses to hold onto when needing profound and lasting alleviation of feelings of grief or distress, which only the Holy Spirit can give:
Psalm 23:4: “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 comfort me.” Life is uncertain. But God is our shepherd. When we feel hedged in and surrounded, we are in the presence of God. That is our comfort.
Psalm 71:21: “You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.”
Psalm 119:50: “This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.”
Psalm 119:76: “Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise of your servant.”
2 Corinthians 1:4: “Who comforts us in all of 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.”
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17: “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.”
Jesus’s last words in Matthew 28:20b give us reassurance: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Sometimes we do not need anyone to tell us what to do. We are not asking for advice. We just need a hug and a smile. We need reassurance. All we are asking for is a listening and empathetic sounding board to bounce off our thoughts. Oh for those apples of gold words!
But, we have total acceptance and receive unconditional love from God, our heavenly father. He is our shield and rock. He is our good shepherd. He is our protector. He is the great I AM!
If I hadn’t gone through a series of Mt. Everest size trials from 1991 through 2013, I would have never written my first book, “Taming the Lion’s Roar. Handling Fear in the Midst of a Trial.” I desperately needed the comfort that only Christ could satisfy. I was in the boot camp of hard knocks. However, those trials taught me endurance, courage, and steadfastness. I had to seek and study the truth from God’s Word regarding fear, not knowing the future, and what is totally out of my own control. One individual verse became my lifeline – Psalm 119:92: “If your law had not been my delight I would have perished in my affliction.” I would pray, “Teach me Your Word during this season of my life like I have never known it before and make this verse my testimony when I emerge from this place.”
Some people say that God will not give you more than you can handle. That is a total myth. That verse has to do with temptation and not storms in our life. Life provides us with more than we can handle. Yes, I am not strong enough, but God wants to be my strength when it is more than I can handle.
Christ just asks us to draw near to Him. He is waiting. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus proclaims: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Are you in need of comfort today? Do you need to share your pain with a person? Are you in need of compassion, understanding, patience, and a listening ear? I would be happy to do that for you if you leave a comment below, so that I can pray for you as well.
Some of the hardest lessons in life just take time to work through, pray through, and wait upon God’s timing and plan to be revealed. Sometimes there are no instant answers. But remember, you are in the presence of almighty God. He is waiting to give you hope.
My prayer for today: Dear Lord, give me your comfort today. I need it now. Thank you that I do not have to enter a password to receive your peace, hope, and comfort. You are the all-sufficient, Lord of Peace, the Alpha and Omega, the great I AM! You are my comforter.