Being Comfortable, Comforted, and Comforting

 

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 tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3 KNJV)
 

 What brings comfort to someone experiencing a time of great distress? A Google search led to these top five suggestions:

 

 1- Make contact.

 

 2- Listen to the story.

 

 3- Be there emotionally.

 

 4- Help make decisions.

 

 5- Rally support.  

 

   All five are sound advice. While these are secular suggestions, they align perfectly with scripture both as to how God has comforted us and how He uses us to bring comfort to others. Let's take a look at these suggestions through the lens of scripture.

 

 1- Make contact. Jesus says, And I will pray to the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you forever....  (John 14:16) Once we have received the comfort of God as the Holy Spirit makes contact with us and begins witnessing comfort to our spirit we should find ourselves compelled to make contact with others in distress. The peace of Christ seeks distribution through those who have received it. To possess God's peace, we must give it away. 

 

2- Listen to the story.  The psalmist wrote - Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer. (Psalm 4:1 KNJV) Our God is an attentive God, always listening for the cries of our hearts. One of the great transformations incurred by growing faith is the development of a desire to listen, especially to those suffering through a time of need. The relief we find by the expression of prayer encourages our understanding of the simple comfort that is found in cathartic expression to a willing listener.

 

3- Be there emotionally.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8 KNJV)
Empathy cannot be faked. If you show up, then listen but actually could care less about the problems of others, your hypocrisy will be effortlessly detected. Empathy is loving kindness  expressed without language. The confidence we find in the continuous flow of love we enjoy from the Lord exhorts us to loving others. Empathy expressed in a time of distress is love released by heaven, through our hearts, to another.  

 

4- Help make decisions.  Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. While the Twelve were scattered and broken immediately after the Crucifixion, Joseph stepped in and made decisions about important practical matters of recovery of the Lord's body and its burial. Practical assistance is practical ministry to those in distress.

 

5- Rally support.  We took sweet counsel together, And walked to the house of God in the throng. (Psalm 55:15 KNJV) To sustain comfort encourage five or six others to help you execute steps 1-4. Fellowship with other believers produces its own sweet comfort. Oswald Chambers wrote - God never gives strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the minute. Gather others to help someone in need get past the strain of the moment.

 

   Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. (Jesus of Nazareth, AD 33) When you hear of someone suffering trough a difficult time, bear the fruits of fellowship, attentiveness, empathy, practical assistance, and sweet counsel with other Christians to those who are in any trouble, and they will be blanketed with God's comfort.

Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday@blogspot.com