COMFORT ME, O LORD; THE JOURNEY IS TOO HARD
PART ONE
The comfort of God is not an abstract thing. Our God is always giving to His own children, but not when they are disobedient or rebellious. Those who know their need, will know that need fulfilled. It is not like pouring water into a glass. God does not pour out comfort or relief or support like it is water.
Comfort comes through a person, through the agency of another. Jesus spoke a most interesting statement on the betrayal night. This is it, {{John 14:16-18 “and I will ask the Father, and He will give you ANOTHER HELPER that He may be with you forever - John 14:17 that is, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you.”}}
That is the way the NASB puts it. The NIV uses Advocate while the Holman translation chooses Counsellor. The usage of “Another Comforter” in the KJV is the one I love the best, even though all the other words are correct in the way they portray the work of the Holy Spirit in God’s children.
Jesus was talking of the Holy Spirit when He said that, and he deliberately used the word “another” in saying “another Helper/Comforter” which means “another, but different, but of the same purpose and kind”. While on earth Jesus was a Comforter to those He called for His disciples. He was the perfect Comforter. However He sent the Holy Spirit into the world to be with His Church until He goes with the Church to heaven, and the Holy Spirit ministers to us now just as if the Lord Himself was beside us to help us in our trouble and distress.
Strong’s Concordance for this word ?a?????t?? offers the follow translations – (a) an advocate, intercessor, (b) a consoler, comforter, helper, (c) Paraclete. No doubt most of you have heard that the translation of Paraclete, taken from the Greek, means one called near, or one called alongside. That is exactly what the ministry of the Holy Spirit is. He has been sent by Jesus to abide in us, to seal us, but He is also considered as One who is beside you to help you, to comfort you, to plead for you, to intercede for you, to console you.
That is a very embracing ministry, isn’t it? The Holy Spirit is all that to us, for the Lord Jesus Christ said, “I will not leave you as orphans,” and He has not. He sent the same One as Himself for the Holy Spirit is God. Perhaps some of us find it more difficult to think of the Holy Spirit as God, but the Spirit’s purpose is not to draw attention to Himself but to Christ. He will always glorify the Son, not Himself. In that sense it is like He is in the background a bit. Some like to glorify the Spirit more than the Son but it must not be like that. {{John 16:13-14 “but when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will disclose to you what is to come. John 16:14 He shall glorify Me for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.”}}
When you are in need, help is at hand. That is an expression the world uses but for the Christian, it is even more correct. The Holy Spirit is “at hand” in other words, right there beside you. I know many of you are having personal battles with health issues as we are older, and one problem after another seems to emerge. We are realists. We know this will happen, but the Lord said in John 14 and the opening verse {{John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me.”}}
We are not meant to be troubled. That means, not anxious or worried, fretting without knowledge, or feeling we have been abandoned. Some have said to me over time, “I just want the Lord to take me.” That is a decent statement and would link in with the message I gave on “The Tug of Heaven”. However what you really want in these distressing times is comfort. Comfort may come from family and friends but there is only so much comfort they can supply, and it is all related to this life. Our greatest comfort comes from above, from the ministry of the Holy Spirit as He sheds abroad in our hearts several things, and I would like to suggest some.
[1]. The first of course is love for that is what the passage says says – {{Romans 5:3-5 “Not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint because THE LOVE OF GOD has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”}}
[2]. The second is expectation. If you have been absent from home for a long time and you are returning, as you get closer, your expectation grows deeper and is more exciting. As we journey towards heaven that expectation grows stronger all the time. In pain and hurt and discomfort and whatever it is that the Lord has allowed to come our way, the expectation matches that and glows bright. That is the hope a Christian has that is missing in a non-Christian, sad as it is. It is what comfort is.
[3]. Peace is a treasure, a gem of delight. It is one of the two most used words of Paul, especially in all his greetings – grace and peace. He spoke about peace with God, the peace of God and the God of peace. Paul wrote to saints who were undergoing rejection and tribulation, and that in a person’s life is destabilising and tears down confidence. The Spirit of God knew that and knew that we need peace, especially when all earthly hope is fading and heaven’s gates are opening to us.
{{1Thessalonians 5:23 “Now may THE GOD OF PEACE Himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 4:7 and THE PEACE OF GOD which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”}}
[4]. Comfort is the next, and that is the one we have been pondering. True comfort comes only from God and godly things such as the bible, ministry, prayer, and Christian friends who encourage us. Some of God’s saints are true comforters who can encourage; real encouragers like Barnabas, the son of consolation. That is a wonderful gift in ministry and I admire those people.
PART TWO
Here I would like to look at some aspects of comfort generally in relation to the bible. These are taken at random. You may have your thoughts on these.
[[A]]. In the case of Adam and Eve before the Fall, they did not know comfort. They had to live in obedience to God in all their ways. Likewise they did not have a conscience, for conscience operates in the area of good and evil, the knowledge of which they gained through sin. Once they sinned then the floodgates of human emotions were released and they gained sorrow, regret, conviction, misery, happiness, guilt, and in particular, the need for comfort. They needed comfort. Sin always needs the ministry of comfort. We need it. Sin must lead to forgiveness and that grants us comfort – and peace of course.
[[B]]. We talk about spiritual comfort and that is so necessary, but comfort is needed by soul, body and mind as well. Our human makeup comprises all of those areas. God did not mean us to have distress in our emotions and body, but spiritual comfort. It all comes together but we know how difficult that is to have it all coordinated. I am reminded of the verse that says, {{Isaiah 26:3 “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace because he TRUSTS in You. .”}} That is known by older people from the KJV – {{“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is STAYED on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”}} The active part there (trust, stayed) means to make secure, a placed trust. That is the connection between God and us.
[[C]]. Comfort means sometimes to bind up and address the injury. A man was left for dead after having been beaten up by robbers but only a Samaritan man offered him any assistance. Let me say it this way, offered him help and comfort. We read – {{Luke 10:34 “and came to him, and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.”}}
What the Samaritan did was address the physical concerns, bandaging and applying medication. That was ministry of comfort to the body. Then he put the injured man on his own beast (while he walked) to arrive at the inn. That was comfort for the man’s well being, his emotions, his soul.
It was useless if that Samaritan had stopped when he saw the man and said, “Be healed. I wish you well. Look up, mate.” Then he continued on his journey. Comfort always has a practical side and it might require some sacrifice on the part of the one who is called by God to minister comfort.
CHRIST IS SUFFICIENT
One night while conducting an evangelistic meeting in the Salvation Army Citadel in Chicago, Booth Tucker preached on the sympathy of Jesus. After his message a man approached him and said, “If your wife had just died, like mine has, and your babies were crying for their mother, who would never come back, you wouldn’t be saying what you’re saying.” Tragically, a few days later, Tucker’s wife was killed in a train crash. Her body was brought to Chicago and carried to the same Citadel for the funeral.
After the service the bereaved preacher looked down into the silent face of his wife and then turned to those attending. “The other day a man told me I wouldn’t speak of the sympathy of Jesus if my wife had just died. If that man is here, I want to tell him that Christ is sufficient. My heart is broken, but it has a song put there by Jesus. I want that man to know that Jesus Christ speaks comfort to me today.”
Today in the Word, MBI, October, 1991, p. 10 (found on SermonCentral)
[[D]]. Isaiah had to chastise his nation Judea very early in his ministry and said this – {{Isaiah 1:4-7 “Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they have turned away from Him. Isa 1:5 Where will you be stricken again as you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. Isa 1:6 From the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it, only bruises, welts, and raw wounds, not pressed out or bandaged, nor softened with oil. Isa 1:7 Your land is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Your fields — strangers are devouring them in your presence. It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers.”}}
Spiritually speaking Judah was as sick as could be. Verse 6 describes the spiritual problems in a physical sense - nothing sound, only bruises, welts, raw wounds, not pressed out, not bandaged, not softened with oil. That physical description is transferred to the spiritual. The nation was really sick. O sinful nation! Jeremiah put it another way – {{Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it?”}} So sick they were, and were in dire need of the divine Physician, but they loved their sin. It needed the greatest of comfort and the LORD was ready to comfort the nation. How could one so sick and hurting refuse that offer? Judah did! They were so much in love with their sin, their idolatry, that the LORD was rejected. They wanted no part of their God.
Today God stands to heal a desperately sick world increasing in its sinfulness. He wants to bandage the wounds but the world refuses. Lovers of pleasure they are, and worshippers of self – the world wants no God in these days, and wants not His children either.
[[E]]. There is another passage in Isaiah speaking of comfort that has the prime interpretation to Israel at the time of the Second Coming, but I want to look at it in a way where we see “through these words” to the heart of Isaiah who wrote them. Words can be of the greatest comfort. They can bind up the wounds like bandages and the anointing of healing oil. On the other hand, words and actions can cut and undermine, and just be the opposite of comfort.
English is a preponderant language for impreciseness. Its vocabulary is so immense, it is at times difficult to select the exact word required. You get swamped in synonyms and antonyms. All of those can have the slightest alteration to meaning. I was curious what the synonyms for comfort would be and I got these from “Merriam-Webster” - cheer, consolation, relief, solace, encouragement, inspiration, uplift, assurance, reassurance, alleviation, assuagement, mitigation, contentment, gladness, happiness, commiseration, empathy, sympathy aid, assistance, help, succour, bonus, extra, benefit, service, anodyne, delight, indulgence, joy, pleasure – plus more still. Well for a hurting soul, you would desire all those to be applied.
Coming back to that passage in Isaiah – {{Isaiah 40:1-2 “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God. Isa 40:2 Speak kindly to Jerusalem and call out to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.”}}
In the future Jerusalem will be delivered from all the warfare that has been oppressing her as the Lord comes in great power to eliminate all enemies, and note then the words spoken to the oppressed Jews by Messiah - “Comfort, O comfort My people.” The Lord Himself will minister comfort to these hurting people. They will have been through so much, and the words that follow on are “Speak kindly to Jerusalem . . .” Comfort and kindness when in great anxiety are the arms of ministry that wrap themselves around the hurt, the distress and the apprehension people go through.
In Christian ministry there are those who bind up the wounds pouring in oil and wine, but there are also those who intrude, unqualified people, who minister the antonyms of comfort – “cold comfort, anguish, distress, heartache, heartbreak, torment, torture, agony, anguish, misery, suffering, torment, torture, ache, pain, pang, prick, smart, sting, stitch, throe, tingle, twinge discomfort, unrest.” No soul wants to feel worse after a Christian leaves than he/she was before that person arrived. We must all be careful how we conduct ourselves around those who are hurting and inwardly are crying out for the ministry of comfort.
One thing we may not be aware of, especially if you have lived a life isolated from problems, is that often the hurting and wounded ones can not find comfort in themselves. Some heartache is so much that it renders us useless at “self medication”. The downtrodden and the constantly hurt, can not find it in their power to start to rise up. That is why we all need two things. The first is a strong connection with Christ, and secondly, the comfort from others.
In the past, very especially on one occasion the only personal relief and comfort I could get came from the Psalms. They addressed my problems over and over. I think this is all connected with the word “meditiate” as we just let our eyes and souls be fixed on what God has written to us for our comfort. Allow God to minister to you. As I said, that is half the story. The second part is comfort from others. We must all be aware of those in need, those who hurt, and go out of our way to comfort them.
Do you think it was inconvenient for the Good Samatitan to draw near to that man to help him? I would say, “Yes, it was inconvenient because it slowed his own journey and cost him time and some money.” Is there a lesson in all this? Yes, there is. Let that lesson apply to each of us. We serve others not ourselves – that is the Christian example Jesus set for us.
My fellow Christians, you yourselves, must learn to rely on the God of comfort who comfortes Mary and Martha at the tomd, and showed compassion to all those who were hurt and suffering. Then you must minister to the hurting and those who truly need comfort.
ONE LAST PLEA. Do not give false hope at a funeral. Do not say the loved one is with the Lord when you know he is not. Of course you can’t say the alternative but use that time to comfort the bereaving ones. You can do that honestly without directly giving false hope concerning the one who has died.
Let us close with a poem I tried to write to accompany this message.
COMFORT COMFORT ME
The Lord knows us, the trouble we have along the way.
Wrap Your great arms of comfort around my life to stay.
Your tender care, I need all that to be my support.
In all my hurt, here let your healing mercies be wrought.
Who is like You, the God of love who lifts the ailing,
For from despair, Your comfort wings are never failing.
Comfort, comfort, wrap my life up in your tenderness;
O listen Lord, I am hurting in this wilderness.
I’ve lost my way, dejected, a soldier all forlorn,
And here I lie, for from the dust of earth I was born.
Your intentions, by love each one is motivated.
Now in my life, let your comfort be cultivated.
“Comfort, comfort, my people,” Isaiah wrote long past.
The Messiah will pour out that comfort that is vast.
All His people will know peace and joy when Christ appears.
He is the One whose comfort will banish all our fears.
In my sorrow I look to One who lifts the burden.
In my sadness I know to me the Lord will hasten.
In my despair, there is One closer than a brother.
In all my fears His comfort compares with none other.
His Name is this – Mighty God, The Lord of All Comfort.
Only in Him will be realised mankind’s true support
Come now to Him, all you who hurt and are bashed about,
God of Comfort, come to Him in your turmoil and doubt.
12 October 2022 Ron Ferguson 13-13-13-13 A-A-B-B
Poem is copyright but can be used with acknowledgement.
