Certainty in Uncertain Times

Sometimes life throws us a "curve ball" that can leave us dazed and confused. When those times come, we need to focus on the truth of who God is.  While we don't always understand His ways, we can rest in His promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6).

The God of All Comfort

I used to clean an elderly couple’s home and in their one bathroom was a little sign that read, “Don’t regret growing older. It’s a privilege denied many.”  Though I read it every time I cleaned, I never thought much about it until this past year.  The tragic death of a close friend at the age of 37 and most recently the passing of an 8-year-old child at my daughters’ school after battling a brain tumor has brought home to me the fragility of life. 

Their deaths have also left me asking God, “Why?”  While I can find no value in their departure from this earth, I also know that there are many things that I will not understand on this side of heaven nor am I meant to.  

I’m reminded of this in Isaiah 55:8-9, which says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

In this time of confusion, I’ve decided to go back to what I KNOW for sure: God is good, He is a very present help in time of need, He heals the brokenhearted, He loves my friend and this child and is with them in heaven, and He cares more for their families than I ever could.

As I grieve, I will be speaking these truths to myself and I encourage others who may be mourning the loss of a friend or loved one to do the same.  Grieving is a process and we need to allow ourselves time to be comforted. 

Healing and comfort will come.  God is faithful and He will bring it to pass.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 “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. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.”

Posted by Redeeming Love

A Divine Exchange

Life can throw many things at us, but thankfully, God has everything already covered.  He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins and conquer everything that comes against us.  Our job is to receive all that He did for us through a divine exchange of our circumstances for His comfort, love, and victory.  

Comfort: God's Holy Exchange

All of us will be walking in more of the Luke 4:18-19 ministry of Jesus as we go on with God:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

Luke 4:18-19 NKJV

    

Jesus began his ministry on earth quoting from Isaiah 61:1-3. "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD ... has sent me ... to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair."

Jesus defined His call and His eternal relationship with us when he quoted this passage in His first public sermon. He brings good news to us, binds up our broken heart, and comforts our mourning in our grief. These days may not feel like His goodness or His faithfulness, but His Word promises that dark clouds are under God's feet (Ps 18:9). He never stops inviting us near him to love, guide, deliver, heal, and comfort us. All we love is in His hands. He hears our prayers and our tears when there are no words. He counts them as liquid intercession, which is precious to Him (Psalm 56:8a). He is our Mighty Warrior and contends with those forces that contend with us (Isaiah 42:13; Psalm 35:1).

Be blessed with a still heart, while God fights for you (Exodus 14:14; Psalm 46:10). Be blessed in His covenant of love that can never be taken from you (Romans 8:35,38-39; Psalm 18:19). Be blessed to know that everything is for His glory (2 Corinthians 4:15). He is being glorified in you.

God's promise is sure that he is able to guard what you have entrusted to Him (2 Timothy 1:12). Receive His covering of His sweet presence and peace that passes all understanding in all your cares. He never loses sight of whom He designed you uniquely to be and whom He designed those you love to be. His plans for you are written on the palm of the nail-pierced hands of His Son.

Be blessed to know Him as your Father of compassion
and God of all comfort, who comforts you in all your cares.
2 Cor 1:3-4

Reprinted with permission from From Seek Him Meet Him weekly online devotional, © by Sylvia Gunter, The Father's Business, P. O. Box 380333, Birmingham, AL 35238, www.thefathersbusiness.com.  Email: info@thefathersbusiness.com