ISAIAH 40:1\u20135<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cComfort, yes, comfort My people!\u201d says your God<\/i><\/p>\n
(Isa. 40:1<\/i>).<\/p>\n
Inevitably, when you encourage people to endure suffering with grace, to look beyond death and its tangled web of fear and regret, to live with their eyes fixed on heaven instead of the transient things of earth, you run the risk of sounding cold and unfeeling. But, if you are true to the Scriptures, the ideal you hold up in the face of suffering is not stoicism, but perseverance through faith. Grief is an important part of life, and it should never be discouraged or suppressed. The pain of losing a loved one, of falling prey to a severe illness, or of losing one\u2019s home is very, very real. We cannot help but feel loss and grief when these things happen.<\/p>\n
Look at Jeremiah grieving over the sins of Israel, Rachel \u201cweeping for her children and refusing to be comforted,\u201d Jesus before the tomb of Lazarus, and Mary at the foot of the cross where her Son hung in misery. Were the feelings of any of these people unimportant to God? Did God look down in cold reserve from His stoic halls and consider the grief of His children trivial? Certainly not! How could such a thing be said of the \u201cGod of all comfort,\u201d the God who gathers His lambs in His arms and carries them in His bosom, who gently leads \u201cthose who are with young\u201d (Isa. 40:11)?<\/p>\n
David certainly found God to be a comfort throughout his life. In death, in sickness, in war, in betrayal, in the loss of children, and in the loss of his home, through it all, he could still say, \u201cMy comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life\u201d (Ps. 119:50 niv). David knew God\u2019s Word, He took comfort in the judgments, in the Law, and in the promises of his Lord and King. He knew grief throughout his life, more so than any of us will probably ever know, but he never experienced real despair because he knew his God. He knew that God was loving, benevolent, merciful, and kind. He never questioned his Father\u2019s love even during those times when he thought his heart would break.<\/p>\n
As you suffer, do not be afraid to grieve, but never forget God\u2019s promise: \u201cAs a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you\u201d (Isa. 66:13 niv); and \u201cI will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow\u201d (Jer. 31:13 niv).<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
Psalm 13\u201316<\/p>\n
Acts 18<\/p>\n
Read the verses from 2 Samuel below. How does David\u2019s knowledge of God and His sovereignty create the proper balance between suffering and grief? One thing we should never do when we grieve is blame God of injustice. This is what Job did. Read God\u2019s response in Job 38:1\u201321 and 40:8\u20139.<\/p>\n
For further study:<\/i> 2 Sam. 12:15\u201323<\/i>; 18:33\u201319:4<\/i> \u2022 Job 6:1\u201310<\/i> \u2022 Jer. 31:15\u201317<\/i><\/p>\n
tuesday<\/p>\n
july<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISAIAH 40:1\u20135 \u201cComfort, yes, comfort My people!\u201d says your God (Isa. 40:1). Inevitably, when you encourage people to endure suffering with grace, to look beyond death and its tangled web of fear and regret, to live with their eyes fixed on heaven instead of the transient things of earth, you run the risk of sounding … Continue reading “GRIEF AND COMFORT”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13020\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}