God is My Comfort

As I look out our sunroom windows, I see fog covering the river.  The temperature is dropping and the weather network says that winter is coming... tonight.  So I settle down in my chair with a cup of chocolate chai.  Ahh..... the warmth of the mug and the silence around, they comfort me.

Quickly around me Christmas decorations are coming up.  House upon house have already put their lights up (much too soon in my opinion) so that they can beat the cold weather and the snow.  People are getting ready for the season of "comfort and joy".  Soon we will be seeing cards and wallhangings looking something like this:

comfort and joy constance comfort and joy

All this has me thinking... What is comfort?  Why do I long for it?  Where do I look for it? Where does God fit in to all this?

I decided to start with the dictionary. From The New Penguin English Dictionary:
Comfort is: "consolation or encouragement in time of trouble or worry, or somebody or something that provides this."
I found another definition off a website: A comfort alleviates or lessens grief, sorrow, or disappointment.

 I don't have time today to plunge into a discourse on why I long for comfort and where I look for it but here are some brief thoughts.  I long for comfort because I am sad, worried, or disappointed and I don't want to feel those things for long periods of time so I look for something to alleviate the feelings through pleasurable activities for my heart and body: kind words, reassurance, encouragement, warm tea, yummy food, and soft blankets.  These are good things.

But where does God fit in?  Do I look to Him?  Is so, first... or later?

These are the questions I am asking myself as I believe the "tidings of comfort and joy" that God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen sings about is the news that gives us ultimate comfort - our Saviour has come!  It is challenging because if you ask me what I am distressed about or what I am grieving, I may not be able to see immediately how the Father's love, Jesus' death and resurrection, or the Holy Spirit's outpouring on us is comforting in the situation.  This is because often, I am grieved because my expectations weren't met or disappointed because things are harder than I wish they were.  I am upset because I am unwilling to accept reality, including the amount of sorrow God allows us to go through.

What am I to do?  Hear the familiar words of Scripture.  2 Corinthians 1:3-5
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. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

God comforts us in all our affliction - which means we have to go through affliction!  "But take heart!" I say to myself (and you if this applies to you).  "There is comfort" - from the One who gives us His very self that we may live.

O my Comfort, You are just that.  The One who loves me and  forgives me.  The One who alleviates my sorrow and disappointments.  I don't always look to You first but I ask that You would help me to.  I want to find my comfort in You: who You are, what You have done, and what You are doing in the situations that distress me. I need help to trust and believe. Thank-you that I may share abundantly in both Christ's sufferings and comfort. Thank-you for the Spirit, the Helper, who is with me.    
In Jesus' name, Amen" 


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