Chapter 3
Chapter 3
THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT
'Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God''— 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.
Among all the names that reveal God, the God of all comfort is one of the most lovely and the most absolutely comforting. The words all comfort admit no limitations and no deductions. No matter how full of discomforts the outward life of a follower of such a God might be, his spiritual life must be always, and under all circumstances, a comfortable life.
Unfortunately, it often seems as if exactly the opposite were true. The spiritual lives of large numbers of the children of God are full of the utmost discomfort.
This discomfort arises from anxiety concerning their relationship to God and
doubts of His love. They torment themselves with the thought that they are too good-for-nothing to be worthy of His care. They suspect Him of being indifferent to their trials and of forsaking them in times of need. They are anxious and troubled about everything in their Christian life, about their feelings, their indifference to the Bible, their lack of fervency in prayer, and their coldness of heart. They are tormented with regrets over their past and anxieties for their future. They feel unworthy to enter God's presence, and they dare not believe that they belong to Him.
They can be happy and comfortable with their earthly friends, but they cannot be happy or comfortable with God. Although He declares Himself to be the God of all comfort, they continually complain that they cannot find comfort anywhere.
Their sorrowful looks and the mournful tones of their voice show that they are speaking the truth.
Such Christians profess to be the followers of the God of all comfort. But they spread gloom and discomfort wherever they go. It is out of the question for them to hope that they can encourage anyone else to believe in this beautiful name by which He has announced Himself. They cannot show that it is anything more than a pious phrase, which in reality means nothing at all. The obviously uncomfortable religious lives of so many Christians is responsible for much of the unbelief of the world.
The apostle Paul says, *'Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men" (2
Corinthians 3:2). What men read in us is far more important to the spread of Christ's Kingdom than we even begin to realize. It is not what we say that witnesses to others, but what we are.
It is easy enough to say a great many beautiful things about God being the God of all comfort.
But unless we know what it is to be truly comforted ourselves, we might as well talk to the wind. People must read in our lives what they hear in our words, or all our preaching is worse than useless. We should ask ourselves what they are reading in us.
Is it comfort or discomfort that voices itself in our daily lives?
But what is meant by the comfort that God gives? Is it a sort of pious grace that prepares us for heaven but is somehow unfit to bear the brunt of our everyday life with its trials and its pains? Or is it an honest and genuine comfort that enfolds life's trials and pains in an all-embracing peace?
With all my heart, I believe it is the latter.
A Picture Of Comfort None of us cares for pious phrases. We want reality. The reality of being comforted and comfortable is almost more delightful than any other thing in life. A thousand times in our lives, we have said, with a sigh of relief as burdens are laid down, **Well, this is comfortable." In that word, comfortable, there has been comprised more of
rest, relief, satisfaction, and pleasure than any other word in the English language. We cannot fail, therefore, to understand the meaning of this name of God—the God of all comfort.
But alas, we have failed to believe it. The joy and delight of it is more than our poor, suspicious natures can take in. We may venture to hope sometimes that little scraps of comfort may be granted to us. But we run away frightened at the thought of the all comfort that is ours in the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yet, what more could He have said about it than this— **As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted"
(Isaiah 66:13)- Notice the as and so in this passage as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.
It is true comforting that is meant here—the sort of comforting that the child feels when he is held close to his mother's heart.
How many of us have honestly believed that God's comfort is actually as tender and true as a mother's comfort. Instead of thinking of ourselves as being held on His knees and hugged to His heart, we tend to look upon Him as a stern, unbending Judge. We see Him holding us at a distance, demanding our respectful homage, and being critical of our slightest faults. Is it any wonder that our faith, instead of making us comfortable, has made us thoroughly uncomfortable? Who could help being uncomfortable in the presence of such a Judge?
I rejoice to say that the stern Judge is not there!
He does not exist. The God who does exist is a God who is like a mother. He says to us plainly,
**As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you."
'I, even I, am he that comforteth you"
(Isaiah 51:12), God says to the poor, frightened children of Israel. And then He reproaches them for not being comforted. Why should you let anything make you afraid when here is the Lord, your Maker, ready and longing to comfort you.
*'And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?" (Isaiah 51:13).
The God who exists is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the God who so loved the world that He sent His Son, not to judge the world, but to save it. He is the God who anointed the Lord
Jesus Christ to bind up the broken-hearted and to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound and to comfort all that mourn.
Every captive of sin, every prisoner in infirmity, every mourning heart throughout the whole world must be included in this all.
It would not be all if thejre was one single one left out, no matter how insignificant, unworthy, or even how feebleminded that one might be. The ones who need
comfort most are the ones that our God, like a mother, wants to comfort.
This is the glory of a religion of love. And this is the glory of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was anointed to comfort all that mourn. The God of all comfort sent His Son to be the comforter of a mourning world. All through His life on earth, He fulfilled His divine mission.
When His disciples asked Him to call down fire from heaven jto consume some people who refused to receive Him, '*He turned and rebuked them, and said. Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them"
(Luke 10:55-56).
He received sinners and ate with them. He welcomed Mary Magdalene when all men turned from her. He even refused to condemn the woman who was taken in the very act of sin, but said to the Scribes and Pharisees who had brought her before Him, **He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" 0ohn 8:7). Convicted by their own consciences, they all went out one by one without condemning her. He then said to her,
''Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more"
(John 8:11).
No Room For Doubt Two little girls were talking about God, and one said, **I know God does not love me. He could not care for such a tiny little girl like me."
**Dear me, Sis," said the other girl, *'don't you know that is just what God is for—to take care of tiny little girls who can't take care of themselves, just like us."
'*Is He?" said the first little girl.
''I did not know that. Then I don't need to worry anymore, do I?"
This is just what the Lord Jesus Christ is for—to care for and comfort a// who mourn. Remember, it would not be all if you were left out. You may be so depressed that you can hardly lift up your head; but Paul tells us that our God is the *'God that comforteth those that are cast down" (2 Corinthians 7:6).
If you are cast down, you can claim the comforting of Christ. This mission of comfort is greatly needed in a world of mourning like ours.
Every sorrowful heart may be comforted with this comforting of God.
Our Comforter is not far ojBF in heaven where we cannot find Him. He is close at hand. He abides with us. When Christ was going away from this earth. He told His disciples, ''And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.
. .But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you"
(John 14:16,26).
Then He declared, as though it was the necessary result of the coming of this divine Comforter,
* 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:
not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid"
(John 14:27). Oh, how can we, in the face of these tender and loving words, go about with troubled and frightened hearts?
A Comforter—what a word of bliss! If we only could realize all that it means. Let us repeat it to ourselves until its meaning sinks into the very depths of our being. He is an abiding Comforter, too, not one who comes and goes and is never on hand when most needed. He is always present and always ready to give us **joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness"
(Isaiah 61:3).
I have often wondered whether those early disciples realized what this glorious legacy of a Comforter meant. The majority of the disciples of Christ today do not.
If they did, there could not possibly be so many uncomfortable Christians.
Overcoming Faults You may ask whether this divine Comforter reproves us for our sins. How can we get any comfort out of this? This is one of the places where the comfort comes in. What sort of creatures would we be if we had no divine teacher to show us our faults and awaken the desire to get rid of them?
For example, I may be walking along the street with a gaping hole in the back of my dress.
It is certainly a great comfort to me to have a kind friend who will tell me about it. Similarly, it is
indeed a comfort to know that there is always abiding with me a divine, all-seeing Comforter. He will reprove me for all my faults, rather than allow me to go on in a fatal unconsciousness of them.
Emerson says that it is far better for a man to see his own faults, rather than for anyone else to see them. A moment's thought will convince us that this is true. We will be thanlcful for the Comforter who reveals our faults to us.
I remember the comfort it was for me to have a sister who always knew the proper thing to do.
When we went out together, she always kept me in order.
I never felt any anxiety or responsibility about myself if she was near.
I knew she would keep a strict watch over me and nudge me or whisper to me if I was making any mistakes.
I was always made comfortable, rather than uncomfortable, in her presence. But when
I went anywhere alone, I would indeed feel uncomfortable. Then there was no one standing by to keep me straight.
Despite Our Unworthiness *Tor the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like a garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody"
(Isaiah 51:3).
You may object, perhaps, that you are not worthy of His comforts.
I do not suppose you are. No one ever is. But you need His comforting all the
more because you are not worthy.
Christ came into the world to save sinners, not those who thought they were good. Your unworthiness is your greatest claim for His salvation.
In the same passage in Isaiah in which He tells us that He has seen our ways and is angry with us,
He assures us that He will heal us and restore comfort to us. Anger in this sense means the anger that love always feels with any fault in those it loves. He restores comfort to us. He does it by revealing our sin and healing it.
The avenue to the consolation of the divine Comforter lies in the need of comfort.
This explains the reason why the Lord often allows us to experience sorrow and trials.
'Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her"
(Hosea 2:14).
We may be in a wilderness of disappointment and suffering. We wonder why the God who loves us allowed it. But He knows that it is only in the wilderness that we can hear and receive the comforting words He has to pour out upon us. We must feel the need of comfort before we can listen to the words of comfort.
God knows that it is better for us to need His comfort and receive it, than for us not to need it and be without it. The consolation of God means substituting a far higher and better thing than what we lose to get it. The things we lose are earthly things. Those He substitutes are heavenly.
Who would not be thankfully drawn by our God into any earthly wilderness if there we find the unspeakable joys of union with Him. Paul could say, **Yea, doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suflfered the lOvSS of all things, and do count them but dung, that I might win Christ"
(Philippians 3:8).
If we have even the faintest glimpse of what winning Christ means, we will say the same.
Believing The Word Strangely enough, it is often easy for us to believe that our God is the God of all comfort when we are happy and do not need comforting.
As soon as we are in trouble and need, however, it seems impossible to believe that there can be any comfort for us anywhere.
It is as if, in our reading of the Bible, we reversed its meaning. Instead of * 'Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:4), we read **Blessed are they that rejoice, for they, and they only, shall be comforted." We almost unconsciously alter the Bible words a little, and so make the meaning exactly opposite to what it actually is. Or we may put in so many '4fs" and **buts" that we take the whole point out of what is said.
Take, for instance, those beautiful words, **God, that comforteth those that are cast down"
(2 Corinthians 7:6). Have we ever been tempted to
make it read in our secret hearts, **God who forsaketh those who are cast down;" or perhaps, **God who overlooks those who are cast down;" or, **God who will comfort those who are cast down if they show themselves worthy of comfort."
Consequently, instead of being comforted, we have been plunged into misery and despair.
The psalmist tells us that God will **comfort me on every side" (Psalm 71:21). What an all-embracing bit of comfort this is! On every side, with no aching spot to be left uncomforted. And yet, in times of trial, how many Christians secretly read this as though it said, **God will comfort us on every side, except the side where our trials lie; on that side there is no comfort anywhere." But God says every side, and it is only unbelief on our part that leads us to make an exception of our side with trials.
Like Israel of old we have difficulty believing and accepting God's comfort. On one side God said to Zion, '*Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me" (Isaiah 49:13-14).
Then God's answer came in those wonderful words, full of enough comfort to meet the needs of all the sorrows of all humanity: ''Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they
may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me"
(Isaiah 49:1516).
Receiving God's Comfort You may ask how you are to get hold this divine comfort. My answer is that you must take it. God's comfort is being continually and abundantly given, but unless you will accept it, you cannot have it.
Divine comfort does not come to us in any mysterious or arbitrary way. It comes as the result of a divine method. The indwelling Comforter brings to our remembrance comforting things concerning our Lord. If we believe them, we are comforted by them.
We are reminded of a Scripture text or the verse of a hymn or some thought concerning the love of Christ and His tender care for us. If we receive the suggestion in simple faith, we cannot help being comforted.
But we may refuse to listen to the voice of our Comforter and insist instead on listening to the voice of discouragment or despair.
When that happens, no comfort can possibly reach our souls.
Even a mother may lavish all motherly comfort on a weeping child in vain. The child sits up stiff and sullen and refuses to be comforted. All her comforting words fall on unbelieving ears. To be
comforted by comforting words, we must believe these words.
God has spoken enough comforting words to comfort a whole universe. Yet, we see all around us unhappy Christians, worried Christians, and gloomy Christians.
It seems that not one of these comforting words is allowed to enter their hearts.
A great many Christians actually think it is wrong to be comforted. They feel too unworthy.
If any ray of comfort steals into their hearts, they sternly shut it out. Like Rachel, Jacob, and the psalmist, their souls refuse to be comforted.
Paul tells us, '^Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope" (Romans 15:4). But if we are to be comforted by the Scriptures, we must first believe them. Nothing that God has said can possibly comfort a person who does not believe it to be true.
When the captain of a vessel tells us that his vessel is safe, we must first believe him before we can feel comfortable on board that vessel. When the guard on a railway tells us we are on the right train, before we can settle down comfortably in our seats, we must trust his word. This is all so self-evident that it might seem foolish to call attention to it. But in religious matters, the selfevident truths are often the ones most easily overlooked.
I have known people who insisted on realizing
God's comfort while still doubting His words of comfort. They even thought they could not believe His comforting words at all until they had first felt the comfort in their own souls! The passenger on the railway might as well insist on having a feeling of comfortable assurance that he is on the right train, before he could make up his mind to believe the word of the guard. Always and in everything, comfort must follow faith. It can never precede it.
This matter of comfort is exactly the same as every other experience in the Christian life. God says, ''Believe, and then you can feel." We say, *Teel, and then we can believe." God's order is not arbitrary. It exists in the very nature of things.
In all earthly matters, we recognize this. We are never so foolish to expect to feel we have anything, until we first believe that it is in our possession.
I could not possibly feel glad that I had a fortune in the bank, unless I knew that it was really there.
But in spiritual things we reverse God's order (which is the order of nature as well).
We refuse to believe that we possess anything until we first feel as if we had it.
Let me illustrate. We are, let us suppose, overwhelmed with cares and anxieties.
It often happens in this world. To comfort us in these circumstances the Lord assures us that we need not be anxious about anything. We may commit all our cares to Him, for He cares for us. We are all familiar with the passage where He tells us to behold
the fowls of the air and to consider the lilies of the fields. He assures us that we are of much more value than they, and that, if He cares for them, He will much more care for us. (See Matthew 6:2630.) One would think there was enough comfort here for every care or sorrow all the world over.
God takes our cares and our burdens and carries them for us. The Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, controls everything and forsees everything. He can manage everything in the best possible way. He declares that He will take care of us. What could possibly be a greater comfort? And yet, how few people are comforted by it.
Why is this? Simply because they do not believe it. They are waiting to have an inward feeling that His words are true before they will believe them.
They look upon them as beautiful things for Him to say. They wish they could believe them. But they do not think they can be true in their own special case, unless they can have an inward feeling that they are. Therefore, they do not expect
Him to care for their affairs at all. **Oh, if I could only feel it was all true," we say; and God says, **Oh, if you would only believe it is all true!"
Prescription For Comfort The remedy for this is plain.
If we want to be comforted, we must make up our minds to believe every word of comfort God has ever spoken. We must refuse to listen to any words of discomfort
spoken by our own hearts or by our circumstances. We must be stubborn in our belief, in spite of every sorrow and trial. Then we can accept and rejoice in His all-embracing comfort.
When everything around us seems out of sorts, it is not always easy to believe God's words of comfort. We must put our will into this matter of being comforted, just as we have to put our wills into all other matters in our spiritual life. We must choose to be comforted.
It may seem impossible when things look all wrong to believe that God can be caring for us as a mother cares for her children. We know perfectly well that He says He does care for us in this tender and loving way. Yet we say, '*Oh, if I could only believe that, of course I would be comforted."
Here is where our will must come in. We must believe it. We must say to ourselves, *'God says it and it is true and I am going to believe it, no matter how it looks." Then we must never permit ourselves to doubt or question it again. Whoever will adopt this plan will come, sooner or later, into a place of abounding comfort.
The psalmist says, '*In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my squI"
(Psalm 94:19). Among the multitude of our thoughts within us, there are far too many thoughts of our own discomforts, rather than of God's comforts. We must think of His comforts if we are to be comforted by them.
It might be a good exercise for some of us to analyze our
thoughts for a few days. We could see how many thoughts we actually do give to God's comforts, compared to the number we give to our own discomforts.
I think the result would amaze us!
If people are to think on the comfort of God, the preachers of the gospel must consider what they are called to preach. The true commission, in my opinion, is found in Isaiah 40:1-2, **Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hands double for all her sins."
**Comfort ye my people" is the divine command. If you feel called to preach the gospel, see to it that you preach Christ's gospel and not man's.
Christ comforts, man scolds.
Christ's gospel is always good news. Man's gospel is generally a mixture of a little good news and a great deal of bad news. Even where it tries to be good news, it is so hampered with '*ifs" and **buts" and all sorts of man-made conditions that it utterly fails to bring any lasting joy or comfort.
The only gospel that can rightly be called the gospel was proclaimed by the angel to the frightened shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks by night:
**Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord"
(Luke 2:10-11).
Never were more comfortable words preached to any congregation.
If only all the preachers would speak the same comfortable words to their people. Then, if all who hear these words would believe them and take comfort in them, there would be no more uncomfortable Christians. The apostle Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians would be fulfilled. *'Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work" (2
Thessalonians 2:16-17).