01/12:2022
In this time of COVID in which people are afflicted, sickened horrifically, and many die, it is easy to become hardened to the agony that is going on around us. It seems that our hearts can become overloaded as we empathize with the suffering we see, and the pain we shoulder with them. In sharing the grief, and commiserating with the pain of others, we can become overwhelmed, and to protect ourselves we tend to withdraw from what is happening, and to isolate ourselves from the trauma, but scripture tells us time and time again to comfort others, care for them, and provide for their needs. How are we doing in these stressful times? Do we pray for strength so that we can become a wellspring of strength and comfort to others, or has the pain we have internalized changed us into hardened souls? Are we looking for reasons not to comfort others?
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”
Isaiah 40:1 ESV
Dealing with this pandemic is difficult, and whittles away at our psyches as we go from one surge of sickness to the next. Just when the suffering appears to be subsiding the virus mutates, and makes our vaccines less helpful, in some cases ineffective, and the hospitals fill to overflowing once again. Quite often our own bodies, and hearts, become sickened as well. This is a recipe for hopelessness, and yet the need remains for us to provide comfort to others just as God comforts us…
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all 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 Corinthians 1:3-4 ESV
This scripture talks to us about comfort, but it also tells us that we will not escape affection. So, many times we read past the hard parts of God’s Word, and skip to the end of the stories. We want the joy, peace, and comfort, but not the hard work, the waiting, or the misery we will invariably face in this world. Lazarus died, Jesus wept, Mary and Martha mourned their brother, but then God gave Jesus the ability to raise Lazarus from the grave and bring comfort to his loved ones. We tend to reduce the importance of the tears Jesus cried as he felt the suffering of the sisters, and the death of his friend. You see, when we comfort others we assume some of their pain and it becomes a part of us… it changes us, and can eventually overwhelm us unless we continue to lean on our faith, and prayer; seeking out the comfort of God and His restoration.
“He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
Psalm 23:2-3 ESV
Yesterday I had a dear friend talk to me about the suffering we see in the world today, and the plague we are facing in COVID. Then, with tears in his eyes he asked “Rich, is God mad at us?” You see, his heart was breaking under the load of so much suffering, and the pain of the world had taken up residence in him. He was hurting, but knew from whence his help must come, and had been asking a question that so many others have asked throughout time… “Why Lord?” So I looked at him and said that I didn’t know for certain what God was feeling, but I did know that when God sends His wrath it often falls on the just and the unjust alike, and that the difference between the unjust, and we as God’s people, believers, is that we have hope… hope in Christ.
“so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Matthew 5:45 ESV
So in our providing comfort to those with COVID, or the other ills in the world, we are restored by the comfort of God. And, in this world filled with pain, suffering, and death, it would be easy to lose sight of the instructions we received in our opening verse… to comfort God’s people.
But there is another plague we face that is far more deadly than anything we have discussed thus far, and that is sin. Just as we can become hardened to the world’s physical suffering, we can easily allow ourselves to become hardened to the desperation of others who have refused to believe. Sometimes the empathy we have for the physical suffering of those around us, and the pain we feel for them, overlooks this greatest of all human tragedies… sin, and the disbelief of the lost in God, and Jesus Christ. Have we lost our own hope in the great commission, and withdrawn from trying to help those who not only face bodily death, but the eternal death of their soul? This too is a prayer we should be praying. We should seek God’s comfort in our souls so that we can give comfort to the souls of others, just as God has comforted us in our own faith through Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, we should be providing comfort.
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
Ezekiel 36:26 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the hope and comfort you give us as your people, and for the strength we need to share that comfort with others. Thank you for our fleshy hearts that feel the pain around us as they lead us to care for those in need. Stand guard over our hearts Father, and reach out to us with a full helping of compassion when we begin to withdraw from the world, and from the spiritual struggle that rages there. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who delivers us from hopelessness, and gives us a heart for the lost, and for those who suffer. Praised be your name for every soul we witness to, and for the feverish sweat that we wipe from each suffering brow. Merciful are you Father, and we ask that you comfort us always. Thank you for your Son Jesus, his care, redemption, and the Holy Spirit He sent to comfort us. Wash the feverish sweat of sin from us with His blood, and be pleased with us as we in turn cool the brows of those who are tossing in their death beds with the living water of the gospel. Dry every tear Father, and seat us by your grace at your table. Comfort us there forevermore, and hear our praise and worship for all eternity.
Rich Forbes