THE
BLESSINGS OF COMFORT
BREAD
11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have
done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband--how you left your
father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not
know before. 12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done.
May you be richly rewarded by the LORD,
the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” 13 “May
I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have given me
comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant--though I do not have the
standing of one of your servant girls.”
Ruth
2:11-13 (NIV)
11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the
Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come
upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and
sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When
they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to
weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him
for seven days and seven nights. No one
said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was. Job
2:11-13 (NIV)
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD
is on me, because the LORD has
anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness
for the prisoners, 2 to
proclaim the year of the LORD's
favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in
Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of
gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of
despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. Isaiah
61:1-3 (NIV)
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so
that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have
received from God. 5 For just
as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ
our comfort overflows. 2 Corinthians
1:3-5 (NIV)
1 If you have any encouragement from being united with
Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any
tenderness and compassion, 2 then
make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in
spirit and purpose. 3 Do
nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider
others better than yourselves. 4 Each
of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of
others. Philippians 2:1-4 (NIV)
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they
comfort me. Psalm 23:4 (NIV)
49 Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. 50 My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life. Psalm 119:49-50 (NIV)
19 Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you
who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you? 20 Though you have made me see troubles, many
and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you
will again bring me up. 21 You will
increase my honor and comfort me once again. 22 I
will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing
praise to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. Psalm 71:19-22
(NIV)
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to
her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that
she has received from the LORD's
hand double for all her sins.
Isaiah 40:1-2 (NIV)
76 May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your
promise to your servant. 77 Let
your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight. Psalm 119:76-77
(NIV)
3 The LORD
will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he
will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in
her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing. Isaiah 51:3 (NIV)
12 “I, even I, am he who comforts you.” Isaiah
51:12 (NIV)
BUTTER
“This God is no stranger to the hard road. This God walked the hardest road for us. And whatever road we’re walking on now—then somehow, someway—that road is good. There’s not just breadcrumbs of good for you on it; the road itself is good… In this hard, He is doing something holy. He is doing something transformative. Even as our hearts rage. Even as they break….This upside-down road, where His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), where troubles are an opportunity for great joy (James 1:2) because troubles usher us into His presence, and in His presence, there is fullness of joy. (Psalms 16:11). This is Who. A God who does not forsake. A God who is not cruel. A God who is not stingy with grace. Not a sparrow falls outside of His care. When we find ourselves walking through a dry and weary land where there is no water, shaking our fists at why…Fix the eyes on this God. Remember and rest in Who. Maybe comfort isn’t found so much when we ask, ‘Why is this all unfolding here and now?’ — Maybe comfort is found more when we rest in Who is enfolding us all here and now.” Katie Ganshert
“In Christ the
heart of the Father is revealed, and higher comfort there cannot be than to
rest in the Father’s heart.” Andrew Murray
“Though assaults be many, and my enemies
mighty, if God strengthen me, I have enough to comfort me; for the greater my
enemy, the more glorious my victory; and the more glorious my victory, the more
triumphant my glory.” K.H.
Von Bogatzky
“Life holds for all of us,
from time to time, desolate places. All that was ordinary and secure and
familiar and dependable seems a thousand miles away. Here we are in this
strange wilderness- out of work, ill, robbed of something or someone, banished
from a privilege that once was ours, no longer needed, confused, forsaken. It
is a place of dryness, loneliness, isolation, helplessness, fear. We feel as
though we are walking where no human being was ever meant to walk, a place of dragons. Don't despair. Even though you find no signs, be
sure that thousands have traversed this terrain. When you reach the far side
you will meet them. But there is something that is far more comforting than
that. You are not alone now. Always beside you is Another whose voice you may not hear, whose arm
you may not feel, whose footprint you may not see. Nevertheless His Word is
utterly to be trusted: ‘I cared for you in the wilderness.’” (Hosea 13:5) Elisabeth Elliot
“The believer is in spiritual danger if he
allows himself to go for any length of time without tasting the love of Christ
and savoring the felt comforts of a Savior’s presence. When Christ ceases to
fill the heart with satisfaction, our souls will go in silent search of other
lovers… By the enjoyment of the love of Christ in the heart of a believer, we
mean an experience of the “love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given to us” (Rom. 5:5)… because the Lord has made himself
accessible to us in the means of grace, it is our duty and privilege to seek this experience from Him in these means
till we are made the joyful partakers of it.” John
Flavel
“He who is a believer in Jesus finds enough in his Lord to satisfy him now, and to content him for evermore. The believer is not the man whose days are weary for want of comfort, and whose nights are long from absence of heart-cheering thought, for he finds in Christ such a spring of joy, such a fountain of consolation, that he is content and happy. Put him in a dungeon and he will find good company; place him in a barren wilderness, he will eat the bread of heaven; drive him away from friendship, he will meet the ‘friend that sticketh closer than a brother.’ Blast all his gourds, and he will find shadow beneath the Rock of Ages; sap the foundation of his earthly hopes, but his heart will still be fixed, trusting in the Lord. The heart is as insatiable as the grave till Jesus enters it, and then it is a cup full to overflowing. There is such a fullness in Christ that He alone is the believer’s all. The true saint is so completely satisfied with the all-sufficiency of Jesus that he thirsts no more – except it be for deeper draughts of the living fountain.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“In our walk with
God we are told explicitly by Christ Himself that it would be His Spirit who
would be sent to guide us and to lead us into all truth (John 16:13). This same gracious Spirit takes the truth of
God, the Word of God, and makes it plain to our hearts and minds and spiritual
understanding. It is He who gently,
tenderly, but persistently says to us, ‘This is the way – walk in it.’ And as we comply and cooperate with His gentle promptings a
sense of safety, comfort and well-being envelops us.” Phillip
Keller
“The thought is full of comfort that
He who has established the boundary lines of our lives has also determined the
boundaries of our tribulation.” Charles H.
Spurgeon
“Christian, do you believe that He has your best interest at heart? Do you believe that He has rescued you from the dominion of darkness? Do you believe He loves you with an everlasting love? Do you believe that He will never forsake you? Do you believe that His faithfulness is new every morning? Do you believe that He died for you and if He already did the greater will He not do the lesser? Do you believe that He rejoices over you with singing? Do you believe that He would leave the ninety-nine to come and find you? Do you believe that in Him there is comfort, peace and joy? Then look to Him and have hope.” BHY
HEART
SAVOR
- ·
God
comforts us and we are to comfort others with the comfort that we have received
from Him.
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The
comfort we bestow is a concrete demonstration of our love.
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God’s
Presence brings peace and comfort. It is
a comfort knowing we are in the hands of the All-Sufficient One – nothing is
too hard for Him.
