by Michelle Bauman, Director of Y4Life
Comfort. It was the primary theme at my congregation this week, and I’m guessing it was at your church too. It is, in fact, one of my favorite themes of the Bible, and to be honest, I sorely needed to be reminded of it this weekend. I wonder if you wouldn’t appreciate a reminder too.
Here are the facts: God never desired suffering for His children. As a loving Father, His plan was and is always to bless, always to rejoice in and with those He loves. But because of sin—ours and a whole multitude of sins belonging to others—God doesn’t always rejoice. Neither do we. We suffer. We are sad. We feel fear and pain and sorrow.
God recognizes these feelings, and His response is not to chide or belittle or ignore. Instead, He comforts. Isaiah 40:1 declares, “Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”
Double. That’s right, double. We have double the comfort because we have double the Jesus. Not only do we receive the gift of God made flesh, a flesh that can empathize with the sadness and pain caused by sin, but we also receive the gift of His sacrifice, a gift which makes possible not only forgiveness and salvation, but also healing and hope. And these gifts bring us comfort.
God is compassionate to His people; He is gentle and kind. His fort of protection surrounds and upholds us even as He cradles us in His arms. And while Jesus holds us close with hands that bear the wounds of sacrifice, we rejoice knowing that He is coming again to end all suffering and sadness, all fear, and pain, and sorrow.
And so we wait, resting in His perfect care and compassion. And when we are given work, we confess Christ doubly in and through our suffering, in and through our healing and hope.