God’s People Comforted
Open Your Bible
Isaiah 40:1-31, Isaiah 41:1-29, John 1:23, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
BY Kaitlin Wernet
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).
81 thoughts on "God’s People Comforted"
-
I appreciate the devotional as I am traveling through a valley of grief I never would have imagined my family would go through. My youngest son lost his leg to cancer and may very well lose his life on Earth to it as well.
But what struck me most was reading Isaiah 40. God is so great and omnipotent that he cannot be measured or contained in our human, finite brains; much less in the mold of a statue. He measures the waters of the sea in His hand, He can stretch out His arms the length of the universe, He weighs mountains on His scales; this is unfashionable to me.
I cannot see or even imagine the Lord God Almighty but He created me and longs to be merciful to me. He strengthens me and comforts me and equips me to comfort others.
31 “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.”
Thank you Lord!-
Praying for you and your family, Laura!
-
You and your family will be in my prayers. May God provide you hope and comfort during this hard and painful time.
-
-
I just broke up with my boy friend of two years because he was sexting other women. I tried to work it out ,but there was no longer trust. Being only 20, not married, and having no children involved it was best for me to leave. This passage could not come at a better time in my life. God is truly amazing and He is the true groom and I his bride. I am going to take this time to heal and work on myself and my relationship with Him. Thank you Lord for being my everything and my healer.
-
Praying for you, Sami.
-
-
I love this scripture today! Circumstances we go through and the pain we endure can be used so that we are equipped through the Holy Spirit to comfort, strengthen, and provide hope to OTHERS WHO GO THROUGH SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES and are experiencing similar emotional and even physical pain.
I was in the hospital 10 days following a roll-over accident my husband and I had been involved in. A laceration on my arm became infected and I had 4 surgeries, a wound vac, and high powered IV antibiotics during these 10 days. I was in unbearable pain. The Lord was such a source of comfort and strength, and people came to visit, including my brother.
Fast forward just 4 months after being in my own hospital room, and I found myself in another hospital room–this time in Houston, TX at MDAnderson Cancer Center. This time roles were reversed. I was the visitor. My brother was the patient. Post surgery he had two of the very same high powered, full ammunition IV antibiotics that I had been administered, and he experienced identical side effects that I had experienced. He also had a wound vac tethered to his arm which I had on my arm as well just 4 months earlier. WHAT ARE THOSE ODDS to experience such identical medical treatments especially within such a narrow window of time? I was able to tell him side effect symptoms to watch for and identify that I had experienced, and then was able to promptly alert the medical staff to them when they occurred with him. I am convinced it was Nothing short of God’s hand preparing me in advance to be a source of comfort and strength to my brother, and I was so thankful to have gone through my own experience regardless of the pain I endured.
The Lord also spoke though precious friends of mine who gave me amazing scripture to comfort me, and I was able to use some of those same verses to encourage my brother. Even one of his busy surgeons paused during one of his daily visits to comment on a verse that was written on a white board propped up on the counter in my brother’s room. Through my own experience, the Lord comforted, strengthened, and prepared me in many ways to be a better support, encourager, and care taker of my brother out in Houston, and I was again thankful for my own experience.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 -
I’ve never been one to lean on people. I have too often been disappointed by people and quit seeing them for what they are-gifts from God. Thank you for showing me that I don’t have to be alone. I can trust and love the people God has put into my life for their comfort in my time of need and to be able to comfort them and others in the future. God doesn’t want us to suffer. I am so blessed to know God so deeply. Thanks be to God!
-
See, in the opposite. I’m too trusting of people and I need to rely more on God. People have let me down so many times but God never will. Interesting the different things people can draw from a single passage.
-
-
I love the fact that God is our comforter. And the verse from Corinthians talking about how you are comforted, so that you can be a comforter to others. It is such a good reminder to never take for granted the gift that others give to you when going through a difficult time and always be available to others who are struggling.
I recently discovered this quote by Oswald Chambers describing a comforter and I LOVE it: ” The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is to not talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer.” Such a good reminder that comforting others can be simple; it doesn’t have to be some big act of hospitality or some grand gesture or mind-breaking snippet of advice. You can comfort someone simply by being there and praying for them. Love that. And love the reminder in Isaiah that God will comfort and redeem His people.-
Thank you for this, so relevant. I recently lost my dad to a long battle with cancer as someone on the receiving end of comfort this is so true and good.
-
Great quote! I too recently lost my dad very quickly and unexpectedly, he was 59. I’ve said since that I have never felt such comfort in my life regardless if I could not even pray for myself because of how many people were going to God on my family’s behalf. Only by the Lord’s work have I never asked why or searched for answers to why I lost my dad so young, but I’ve been constantly reminded and resting on that his ways are higher and that He does not owe answers to me but promises to comfort and to provide each and everything I need in every moment whether it was a friend to laugh with, sob with, or to just sit with.
-
Love that Leesha!
-
-
When I got baptised 10 years ago I was given Isaiah 41:10 as my baptismal verse. Over the next few days I made it a point to memorize it. I have repeated it and prayed it so, so many times to myself over the years. Still, even today, it is a favorite verse of mine and gives such peace and comfort to me throughout every day.
-
Isaiah 40:27-31 was given to me 6 years ago on a piece of yellow paper at a youth retreat. I remember reading it and just kind of brushing it off but over the years it has come back to me in so many ways. Today, reading it in the Message translation it washed over me in an incredibly powerful way. Haven’t you been listening?? He doesn’t come and go, he stays!! He gives fresh strength and allows his people to SOAR. What a wonderful image of God by our side through everyday life. The hard times and the joyful times and the mundane times, He is there. What a beautiful reminder during my “mundane” lunch/study break…God is present and active and full of life.
-
Yes, praise Him!
Post Comments (81)