Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God” (Isa. 40:1). “Comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:18). “For thus saith the Lord, … As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
We cannot taste, measure, weigh this thing called comfort, but the word is connected with reality, not fantasy. God has commanded us to do many things, and one of them is to be involved in comfort, as comforter or comforted.
Have you a window, in reality or in memory, through which you can see a small child who with eyes shining, hair gleaming in the sun, is running in a field of wild flowers, or playing in the grass, on sand, or among pebbles? Watch while the child laughs and delightedly reaches out to pull some grass or flower, or to pick up sand or a pebble. Suddenly the pure bubble of joy breaks, and the shining moment is shattered by a scream and a doubling up in pain. A bee has angrily stung the little hand that squeezed it along with the grass, flower, sand, or pebble.
A quickly swelling hand indicates physical pain, but the weeping is for more than that. Shock and disappointment have brought a swift change to the smooth freedom of enjoying the sunshine and beauty of the day. The dismay and hurt are deeper than physical, and someone who is trusted, and who understands what has happened, needs to gather that little person up in his or her arms and administer comfort along with first aid. The little one, however, can do one of two things: kick and fight the proffered comfort, or cuddle up in loving arms accepting the comfort.
God is not talking in riddles, or in theological terms that cannot be understood, when he continually speaks of comfort in his Word. The ingredients are clear: there must be a comforter, and one who needs comfort. However, the comforter cannot comfort someone who does not see the need, or who will not accept the comfort.
Recently in Texas a friend of ours was preparing her home for our visit, and as a last touch she stepped out into the garden to turn on a light that would lift the night darkness and reveal the beauty that was there. As she put her hand up to the switch, she hit a swarm of hornets, which attacked her in concentrated fury. Many stings made her arm swell to double its normal size. Her pain was coupled with deep disappointment in this hindrance to an evening long looked forward to. Her sons were nearby, and they provided not only a quick drive to the hospital for injections but comfort in a variety of ways.
The “hornet stings” of physical pain, sudden illness, threat of sudden death, loss by fire, flood, and hurricane, have come in succession through the generations of human history since the Fall, when Satan succeeded in separating Adam and Eve from God’s presence. The threats to all parts of the world today (war, violence in countries supposedly at peace. Communist takeover or “coups” by various groups, rule by some sort of an elite, economic breakdown, inflation, a forced sharing of goods that curtails the freedom to build and create in diverse areas by choice) are buzzing realities, a swarm of hornets coming closer and closer. What kind of comfort are we to give, and receive?
There is a negative to be looked at before we can understand the positive thoroughly. Job’s comforters were the wrong kind. They told Job to examine himself and see what terrible thing he had done. They had neither real empathy with his suffering nor an understanding of Satan’s place in the attack. Job’s word was, “Miserable comforters are ye all.” David in Psalm 69:20 speaks of his looking for comforters and finding none, and Jesus as he died on the cross had no one to comfort him, as the Father turned his face away from the sight of our sin, which Jesus bore for us in his own body.
Amazing grace! Jesus went without comfort so that he could send us the Comforter. The Holy Spirit, Jesus said, would come to replace the comfort he himself was giving to the disciples as he spent time with them. “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:16, 17).
Jesus cares about our being comforted in the land of the living, in this period of history before he comes back. But not only are we to be comforted by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us; we are to have his help so that we can comfort one another. We need horizontal comfort, the comfort of other human beings.
Come to Ephesians 6 and listen to Paul speaking to the people in that early church, and to us today. He has just given a strong teaching as to the believer’s battle against the rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places. He has cautioned Christians to take the whole armor of God and to stand fast, to be sure they have the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. He has cautioned them to pray always, for one another, and he has asked for prayer for himself, that he might speak boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel. Yet he tenderly finishes his letter with a compassionate promise to send Tychicus, a beloved brother, another human being who was a faithful Christian but also an understanding person. He did not say simply, “You have the Holy Spirit with you.” He said, “I am sending Tychicus to you that he might comfort your hearts.” They needed comfort, and they were going to have a person who could look into their eyes and listen and speak with comforting words.
“The bees are buzzing, the hornets are stinging! I can’t stand the pain any longer! I can’t stand the pressures another day!” What is our immediate need? And what is the need of the person whom the Lord has put next to us right now?
“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.” “Comfort one another with these words,” that because Jesus is coming again, future history is certain. We look forward to God’s comfort for eternity in his own beautiful words of promise: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” The day is coming when we will be in the midst of the time described in Revelation 21, when Christ the Comforter, who is perfect, will give his perfect comfort to all his people.
Until then, we who have the Comforter living in us are to take an active part in comforting—and in accepting comfort.
