The God of All Comfort

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 have received from God.  For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

 

When we were on active duty some of our very best friends went through an amazing trial.  They desperately wanted a child and had already had one miscarriage.  They got pregnant again and that baby was diagnosed with Trisomy 18, which is a genetic disorder in which the fetus has three copies of the 18^th chromosome (or something like that, I still don’t fully understand).  Babies that have this usually don’t make it full term, if they do they are usually still-born, and if they are born alive they rarely live longer than a few days.  Needless to say, our friends were heartbroken.  The doctors advised an abortion, but our friends said no to that.  They carried the baby to full term, but the baby died during, or shortly before, birth.  Despite all of our prayers, faith, and hope that God would miraculously heal this baby, He chose not to.  None of us understood at the time why God allowed this to happen. 

 

We had no idea how to comfort our friends, but God did.  He comforted them in the midst of this trial, and gave them His peace.  The peace that transcends all understanding.  Then the most amazing thing happened, they were able to comfort others.  They held a funeral service for their daughter at the 82^nd Airborne chapel and they got up and shared how God’s comfort allowed them to get through this situation.  They shared how they were able to have hope in the midst of this trial because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  They had an alter call at the end of the service and there were five or six Soldiers who came down and gave their life to Christ.  There was also a couple who was on the brink of divorce who decided to stick together and work things out.  Shortly after our friends lost their baby there were a handful of other cases of Trisomy 18 at Ft. Bragg and they were able to reach out to those families and help them through.  Just like this verse in 2 Corinthians says, our friends were able to pass on to others the comfort and hope that they had received.

 

We are Christ’s ambassadors on this earth, His body, His reflection.  God allows us to go through trials, and comforts us in them, so that we can show that love to a lost and hurting world.  I will never forget what God did in and through our friends while they were in one of the most difficult situations I can imagine.  I encourage you to examine your own lives, think about the trials you’ve faced and the comfort, hope and compassion you’ve received.  Now look for ways to pass that on. 

How close is your weapon?

"Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water."
Nehemiah 4:23

In my old testament reading the other day I was reading in Nehemiah and came across this verse and God spoke to me and convicted me through it. As you may know the book of Nehemiah is about a man (Nehemiah) who returns to Jerusalem from exile to rebuild the city's wall, and lead the people back into a right-standing relationship with God . I have often heard that the book can also be read as an analogy for us in restoring our spirit and building a spiritual defense in our lives, so as I read I keep that in mind.

When I read verse 23 I was convicted that so often in my life I put down my weapon. While I am trying to fortify my spiritual defenses or build my faith I spend time with sword in hand prepared to defend against the attacks I know will come. But so often I get lazy or complacent and put my weapon down when I 'go for water.' Then I start putting it down more and more and before I know it I'm being attacked and I don't even know where I left it.

So how do I/we apply this? How do we live lives so that we are never without our weapon? I think that there are three things we can learn from the verse and from scripture to help us.

First, I think we need to recognize what our weapons are. Ephesians chapter 6 lays out what the Armor of God is. I don't have time to go into the awesomeness of this chapter, but I'll point out that the only offensive weapon Paul lists is the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." This is our primary weapon.

Second, we need to memorize the word, so that we are never without it. What good is knowing how to use a sword if you never have it with you? Deuteronomy 30:14 says "No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it." Romans 10:8 says "'The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,' that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming." It is impossible for us to have our Bible with us all the time, so we need to write the word on our hearts so that we have it ready to go when we are attacked.

Third, we need to be in fellowship with others who are ready to help in the battle. This verse doesn't just say that Nehemiah kept his weapon with him, it says that he, his brothers, his men and his guards all did. We need people around us who are standing guard and encouraging us to keep up our guard. We also need to make sure that we are doing the same for others.

I don't think that this is hard to do, but we need to be intentional in order to accomplish it. So I ask you, how close is your weapon? I challenge you to keep up your guard, and to find others who can encourage you and whom you can encourage. Restore your city and build your wall strong. "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."