Comfort when we suffer
posted Tuesday, August 2, 2005 :: 7:18 AM
Comfort: to give strength and hope to; to cheer; to ease the grief or trouble of; to console. – Webster’s
We
are comforted in our sufferings when we obtain the strength to endure
our afflictions; the hope that our sufferings will one day end; and the
easement of our sorrows (not our trials; necessarily). For a man can endure hardship, but not if his spirit is crushed. The Scriptures teach us to take comfort in our afflictions, as well as to receive the Lord’s comfort.
“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
The
rod disciplines, and the staff directs in the right way. The rod
comforts us because we have assurance that no matter what happens to us
in this life, our Heavenly Father will not cease fathering us. The
staff comforts us because we have assurance that no matter what happens
to us in this life, our Good Shepherd will not cease guiding and
directing our paths. Both tools also verify our status, as children of
the Heavenly Father; as sheep of the Good Shepherd. We belong in the
household of God and are not outsiders who have no hope. It is in this
knowledge that we take comfort when we walk through the valley of the
shadow of death.
Taking comfort is something we do and is
not something we must wait on the Lord for. How do we take comfort?
What about feeling comforted? Stay tuned.
to be continued …
Previously: When we suffer: a warning
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Update: continued in Taking comfort: Psalm 42
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