Some mornings… well, let me be honest MOST mornings, God just shows up in my quiet time in such a powerful way. And this chilly Friday morning was another one!
I must share. Can I? (I am sorry - it’s a long one… but worth every bit I believe!)
Today’s reading was from 2 Corinthians 1:4, “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”
I was thinking about several of my friends and family members this morning, and the many tribulations WE have faced as of late. And then some that are not just “as of late”, but rather lingering from ongoing troubles. It would seem that every one of us has been fighting a battle of some sort. Each of us has wrestled with our own issues of illness, loss, fear, anxiety, and waiting.
Ahh… but we have a GOD who is SO GOOD that He never once leaves us alone in our weaknesses and frailties and doubt and despair and anxiousness. And the favor and the grace that our merciful God gives us is not just to make us better… but to also make us useful.
And then I read this… “It is only by personal experience that we are able to impart consolidation to others.”
Personal experience.
Some of us would say - “Enough personal experience already. We’re ready for the breakthrough.”
But maybe God is still up to something. Maybe He’s working something more out in us. Maybe He’s not finished refining the work in us so that we can be the miracle reminder for someone else.
The Bible tells us that many are the afflictions in this life. We cannot escape them. And many are the troubles for the Christ-follower. BUT it IS the will of the Lord that we may be comforted. When Jesus was leaving the earth to ascend with the Father in heaven, He purposed for us a Spirit…. The Holy Spirit… to come be our comforter. He knew - IN THIS WORLD there WILL be TROUBLE. And in His kindness and mercy, He provided us with one who comforts.
And I love the definition of the word COMFORT. It means this: to strengthen, to invigorate, to cheer, or enliven.
And I see it a new way today… COMFORT.
Because sometimes I think we confuse this word COMFORT with COMFORTABLE.
Comfortable means this: a state of ease; moderate enjoyment.
But to comfort means to strengthen, to invigorate and to enliven.
It doesn’t mean to my ease and enjoyment… because often the strengthening of a soul and spirit is ANYTHING but easy and enjoyable.
I heard recently in a sermon something that I have been chewing on ever since. The preacher said these words,
“The primary role of Holy Spirit is to provide comfort, but the primary role of Jesus, while He was here on earth, was to CONFRONT.”Ahh, there’s another word to examine.
CONFRONT.
To confront means: to stand face to face in full view; to bring into the presence of.
Okay… hoping this makes as much sense in your brain as it did in mine.
Jesus came to CONFRONT.
Confront sin, confront misdirection, confront confusion.
The Holy Spirit came to COMFORT.
Strengthen us in our weaknesses. Invigorate us in our calling. Enliven us to keep going.
And no where in there is ease and enjoyment mentioned.
And so could it be that the trouble we face is intended to bring about the transformation that we need??
Oh friends… God is so good that He doesn't leave us in our mess. He hasn’t left us without a redemption plan!
And so my thought this morning was this… KNOWING in ADVANCE that He is making a way through all of these troubles and all of these worries and all of these uncertainties and doubts… We could PRAISE HIM in the midst of the pain.
I read something in a book I’m reading the other day that says this, “Prayer the becomes praise is proof that God is becoming our desire.”
Don’t you just love that?!?
My commentary on 2 Cor 1:4 says this, “If I am in the habit of thanking God mainly for food and clothes and house, it will not be easy for me to take them as if the final purpose of them was that I might be warm and well fed. But if what I thank Him for most is not that He gives me His gifts, but that He gives me Himself, then I cannot resist the tendency of that mercy to outgrow my life.” And this, “The more truly a soul possesses Him, the more truly it will long and try to share Him.”
SO many things in this, I know…
But here is a good recap:
Jesus CONFRONTS us. He stands face to face, in full view of us and brings us into the presence of Himself. He teaches us in the midst of our trials. Not everything bad happening to us is an enemy attack. Sometimes, I REALLY BELIEVE, it is God ordaining it for the purpose of making us better!
The Spirit COMFORTS us. He strengthens us in our weaknesses. He Invigorates us in our calling. And He reminds us to keep going. He doesn’t make suffering easy, He makes it possible.
It just might be the enemies role to keep us most comfortable so that we will not change our behavior. Because if we are comfortable in our mess, we will remain there. Unchanged. Undeveloped. Unusable.
And one of the main purposes of our discomfort is to be able to enliven from our experience of it. To be the Gospel Message with skin-on. To bring comfort to others. After all - - we’re all just walking each other home.
Let me be of encouragement to you today, dear friends…
Isaiah 40:2 says this, “Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, ‘Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!’”
Oh friends…. we have the ability to make a way for Him to do the work that ONLY He can do! But we hinder the work by remaining stuck in our wilderness. We MUST make a way through the wasteland. In this world we WILL have troubles. It is promised. But we know a better way than despair and depression and disappointment. It leaves us stuck in a cycle of dysfunction and it serves no good purpose.
So today, as my own battle begins, and the battle rages for those I love, and for YOU reading this message, I am CLEARING the way in the wilderness for the Lord! I am MAKING a straight highway through the wasteland or Him to walk through! I am OPENING the doors of praise in my house (my physical body) and I am sending out praisers like Jehosophat in ADVANCE because I know the work that will shine from the other side of ALL of this is incomparable to anything else!
We sang a wonderful song at church the other day, and it was so powerful. THIS IS HOW I FIGHT MY BATTLES. How? Praising Him!
I wrote it in my journal this morning:
Oh I’m gonna praise Him even in this!
Even in the uncertainty!
Even in the pain!
Even in the dysfunction!
Even in the discomfort!
Ahh… He is using even this!!!!
Finding JOY in the JOurneY,
Wendy
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