Thanks for stopping by! This is Day 4 of my 2015 “31 Days Reflecting on God” series. Find the rest over here.
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2 Cor. 1:3-4
Walking down the street, I look for people’s eyes. So often I can’t meet them. But when our eyes lock, perfect strangers, and we smile, we make a connection. That connection says, “You’re not alone. I’m walking through this life just like you are.”
You’re standing in line at the grocery store and someone starts complaining about the heat. You’ve been feeling it, too, and you agree that you’re ready for fall. But you share about how glad you are that the kids can still play outside and she remembers being the mom of toddlers, and concurs with you. Another connection.
As beautiful as it can be, life has a lot of trouble in it. We are people. We get that. God, as our maker, gets it even more. I mean, he made everything perfect. He never wanted this world to be so broken.
But instead of saying, “Tough luck…your bad, folks,” he gives himself this name – “the Father of Mercies and God of all comfort.” He steps into our troubled world and comforts our hurting hearts.
There are as many kinds of troubles as there are people in the world. Deep ones that eat out your soul and keep you dwelling in a place of fear or grief. Irritable ones that keep you tossing and turning at night trying to solve their mysteries. Lonely ones that turn your heart gray like a rainy sky. Brief ones that come before the sun is up but are forgotten before it goes down. And the ones that never end as long as your life goes on.
But God isn’t afraid of any of them. No trouble is too messy for him to choose to walk beside us. He cares for us and he isn’t put off by our trauma, our tears, our loneliness, our aggravations, our fears.
And when he comforts us, he connects with us. He’s seen it all, and none of it goes too deep or seems too trivial. He gives his comfort freely to his broken creation. And we are healed.