I guess comfort is an important commodity, isn’t it? We want comfortable clothes, we eat “comfort foods,” we lounge in or on comfortable furniture, we seek or give comfort with soothing words and platitudes.
Even the 23rd Psalm just oozes the concept of comfort: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, He makes me lie down in green pastures,He leads me beside the still waters, He restores my soul.
Sometimes, life is not comfortable. Strife enters relationships. Cable news spews disquieting images and stories. We allow ourselves to strive incessantly.We live lives measured in activity. We obsess about finances, our health, our weight. We experience illness, ours or others; we know the sting of death.
2 Corinthians 1: 3-4 says: “All raise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of eery mercy and the God who comforts us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”
Yes. Our sovereign God allows discomfort to serve His purposes. If we never experience want, or anxious moments, or times of trial, how can we extend sympathy to others? If we don’t feel, if our emotions don’t sometimes cause us to rush to the Lord for succor, if we steel ourselves from discomfort, will we ever function to bring mercy to others? If we never let our children experience hurt, will they ever learn to be strong? If we never venture outside our comfort zone, will we miss opportunities God places before us to do His will in a fallen world?
May I continuously remember that God loves me with a perfect love, and that I want to extend that to others. Today, may I approach all I see with an eye towards mercy. May I through words or actions assist those who are hurting. May I extend the hand of friendship to someone who needs a shoulder to lean on. May I bring comfort to a world filled with anxiety, worry, anguish, grief, tension, and striving.
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