Text: Isaiah 40:1-31, Isaiah 41:1-29, John 1:23, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
I remember the exact Tennessee pasture I was passing when I found out things were not okay. One 43-second phone call was all it took to reroute my morning commute and all future plans. My favorite person was gone, leaving a void too large and a shock too real to swallow. I wasn’t sure what else to do but to keep driving, allowing the quiet backroad to usher me out of my once-present joy and into a whole new reality.
I pulled into my usual office parking spot with an unusual, aching sound caught in my throat. I felt paralyzed by the news, but somehow hurried inside anyway, my fingertips throbbing as I slammed the car door. Rebecca was already there, standing in the doorway, waiting to receive my sadness.
When I’d been introduced to Rebecca just a few weeks prior, I’d been wearing my first-day-of-work finest. Our shared love for showtunes had grown from a quiet, excited discussion to loud, harmonized renditions of all our favorite songs (with assigned parts, of course). Over a shared lunch of red pepper soup and tossed salad greens, we began brainstorming names for the baby she was expecting in the spring. But neither of us was expecting the news that would come sooner.
The 43-second phone call had sparked the need for a 5-hour trip—one Rebecca graciously offered to drive. As I sat in the passenger seat of my little blue car, I didn’t fully realize that God had given me the comfort I needed in the form of a person. But this was hardly the first time He’d come to comfort.
Exile had forced the Israelites to leave the life they loved, and without warning. I don’t know where they were when they found out, but I’ll bet the news left them dumbfounded, not knowing where to go or what to do with their grief. To whom could they take their heartache?
“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.
“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of forced labor is over,
her iniquity has been pardoned,
and she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”
– Isaiah 40:1-2
God was standing in the entryway of the Israelites’ new lives, offering the promise of comfort and an end to their suffering. They didn’t know it would come in the form of a person—much less a baby and ultimately, a cross—but it certainly would. “For as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so through Christ our comfort also overflows” (2 Corinthians 1:5).
The best comfort in our grief comes not from answers to stand behind, but from those who will sit with us in our pain. The incarnation of Christ gives us both. The places His body were pierced on the cross created vessels for the Father’s comfort to flow to us. Because “it is finished,” we are comforted (John 19:30).
Praise the Lord for giving us a Person. “Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3).
This message came at the perfect time. I’m on my way back from my Dad’s funeral. I had the strength to stay strong through everything the last few days knowing that mine and my Dad’s Savior, Jesus Christ, was (and still is) right there with me, (I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13 NIV). But I’m sitting here at the airport and discovered I had a voice mail from my Dad. So I’m crying and reading this devotional. Realizing once again I’m not alone. So thank you, SRT, it was exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you Lord for always being there. Also, thank you all for you prayers.
I’m so sorry for your loss. It is so comforting to hear how God is with us even in extremely painful times.
Praying for you.
Praying for you. So glad you’re leaning hard into Jesus.
Praying for you during this time of grief, asking God to comfort you each day.
That part in chapter 40, where we people are put back right to where we belong, by reminding us that nothing goes above God’s intelligence, hits me over and over again. Who are we to sometimes put our morals and insights above God’s? Whom do we have above us? An almighty and opnipotent God who is above all and everything. And yes, He’s also the One who sits next to us and hears us. But let us pause a moment and think about his exaltedness first.
While I haven’t been the best at keeping up with my reading as I should, I definitely agree with everyone else: what a balm chapters 40 and 41 are! It helps that chapter 40 is my favorite chapter in the Bible – the amazing show of love, grace and power that God gives to His people in these verses brings me awe every time I read them. I hadn’t even thought about it until the reading this morning, but I (and my family) received a piece of God’s comfort yesterday as hopeful news was shared about the prognosis of my sister’s father-in-law’s health. We know that he is not out of the woods yet, but God is giving us hope and comfort through the middle of this heart-aching time. We continue to pray for him and rest in the comfort that God gives to us, in His word and the people that He sends to us. Praise God for His faithfulness always!
The passages today were just what I needed to hear in this season. I found myself underlining so many verses, holding back tears as my soul cried out in thankfulness. It has been dark here, sisters. For weeks I have been praying to a God who seems silent, to our Lord who seems distant. The weight of my struggles has been holding me down, and I have been drowning in incredible loneliness as a result. My time in devotion and prayer led to tears and grief rather then joy- God, how long do I need to cry out? How long until you answer my prayers? Where are you in the midst of my pain?
“I have chosen you and not rejected you, do not fear for I am with you… I will strengthen you; I will help you.”
It’s as if those words were written for me today. Reading the passages today of promise and hope has breathed new life into me. He still feels so silent, so distant, but thanks be to God I know his promises are true, and that he is ever faithful. Nothing has changed in my circumstances, but these words give me the trust I lack to re-word my prayers…
“Father, thank you for this trial! Use these circumstances to grow me into the person you always knew I could become. I surrender my will, my hopes, my dreams to you. Give me the courage to share your grace and comfort with others, even when I want to keep it all for my own aching soul. I believe you are here with me, I know your promises stand true. I am eager for you today.”
Today, my struggles remain the same. But I serve a God of grace and compassion who has chosen me, chosen YOU, despite our sins and circumstances, to be his children. I rest in His promises today.
Veronica, I will pray for you. I know exactly how you are feeling as I am going through a similar time in my life. But God is with us! If you have the time, listen to this sermon from my church. It’s several years old but I revisit it from time to time, to be reminded how present God really is in our lives.
http://www.realitysb.com/santa-barbara/sermons/when-sparrows-fall/
I experienced comfort this week in my church community as well as being able to comfort another person in return. I love how God uses different people in our lives to both receive from and give to during our hardships and suffering. It’s a beautiful reminder that He is watching over us and cares about us. I’m going to need His comfort a lot these next 8 weeks of nursing school and I hope that I’m able to fully rely on Him for it, and not other idols or outlets that are set before me. I just love Him.
Yes! So thankful for those who have sat so near and close to me through all my pain. So thankful Jesus is always sitting with me too.
http://www.in-due-time.com
The sting of heart wrenching news.. the comfort of a godly friend.. thank Jesus for the comfort He brings in and through the humans we love.
The greatness of who God is in chapter 40 is astounding, but then the fact that he comes to us, his created, in chapter 41 and is our Redeemer, our help, our answer and more. He is not just this distant God out there somewhere, but he cares for and is involved in our lives. I find that so mind boggling and comforting at the same time! I just need to praise Him!