This week in our home church a precious wife, mother,
sister in Christ was carried away from us and into the glory of seeing Jesus
face to face. We grieve and we rejoice. Last night I shared this article with
our prayer group at church and would like to share it now with you. It’s
natural to be sad and grieve when such sorrow comes our way but those of us who
are in Christ have access to the God of all comfort.
The
God of All Comfort By Lehman
Strauss
The believer in Christ is expected
to get to know God better as he walks the pilgrim pathway. But there are things
that he can learn only through suffering. One of those things is that He is the
God of all comfort.
I had known throughout my ministry,
of course, that God comforts His own. I had taught about the ministry of the
Holy Spirit, our paraclete, who was sent by Christ to help us. And I had seen
that the reading of the Bible brings solace to sorrowing hearts and peace to
those in great turmoil.
But now my wife and I are
experiencing God's comfort for ourselves. In the months since Elsie's stroke,
we have known daily the comfort of the Savior, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and
the precious Word of God. May you too learn for yourself, in your day of trial,
that the Lord is truly the God of all comfort.
The faith of the Christian should
grow stronger in times of trial and trouble. Trials have a way of digging up
the soil of our hearts and turning up weeds. That is good for us, for it is not
in the sunshine but in the storm that we discover the depth of our need.
Someone has said, “Great soldiers are not made in the barracks nor on the
parade ground, but on the battlefield where the going is tough.”
Trials provide opportunities for us
to get to know God better. In his epistle to the Colossians, Paul assured the
Christians that he was praying for them on a regular basis. Included in the
list of things for which he prayed was the request that they might be
increasing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10).
Paul knew that one of the secrets to a full and blessed life is getting to know
God better.
The primary source of the knowledge
of God is His Word. The book of Proverbs says, “My son, if thou wilt receive my
words, and lay up my commandments with thee. . . . Then shalt thou
understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:1, 5). As every student
of the Bible knows, God does reveal Himself in His Word.
We may discover God in other areas
of life as well. Psalm
46 begins with the following words: “God
is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” As we approach the
end of the psalm, God is speaking and He says, “Be still, and know that I am
God” (v. 10). Times of trouble are very often times of silence. At least we are
sure that days filled with suffering and sorrow give us the opportunity to be
silent. These can be precious moments of quiet reflection when God speaks to
us. If we do not set aside some time each day to be silent before God, then He
has His own way of setting us aside. If we take advantage of these periods of
quiet solitude, we too can increase in the knowledge of God. Yes, dear friends,
our time of trouble can be for each of us a time of getting to know God better.
In the lengthy but lovely 119th
Psalm, David gave his personal testimony of something he learned about God when
he was afflicted. In this one psalm, the word afflicted occurs four times (vv.
67, 71, 75, 107), and the word affliction three times (vv. 50, 92, 153). In
each of those seven verses, the psalmist spoke of himself and the affliction he
suffered, but not once did he complain or find fault with God. Here is a
suggested outline as I look at these verses in the order in which they appear:
Divine Provision in Affliction (v.
50); Divine Prevention in Affliction (v. 67);
Divine Purpose in Affliction (v. 71); Divine Providence in Affliction (v. 75);
Divine Protection in Affliction (v. 92); Definite Prayer in Affliction (vv.
107, 153)
This is neither the time nor the
occasion to expound on all of these six points, so let me briefly draw your
attention to just two of them. In verse 71, the psalmist said, “It is good for
me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” He considered
God's school of affliction to be a learning place. There he learned, among
other lessons, that God has a purpose in sending affliction to His children. In
his first use of the noun affliction, the psalmist said, “This is my comfort in
my affliction: for thy word quickened me” (v. 50). As he sat silently before
God in his affliction, he learned by personal experience that God is the God of
all comfort.
Comfort in affliction and adversity.
That is the theme of this meditation. Three months after Elsie was afflicted
with her stroke, neither her brain nor her body was functioning normally. The
stroke has left her with brain impairment, and with paralysis on the left side
of her body. She also has other problems: impaired vision, change in the pitch
of her voice, and excessive fatigue are just a few of the side effects.
After spending seventy-seven consecutive
days with Elsie in the hospital room, I knew full well that we were facing the
severest trial in our fifty-one years of marriage. For forty-five of those
years, I had been preaching and teaching the Word of God to others. Never once
did I doubt the truths I was called of God to declare, but I must confess that
I had never experienced much of what I preached and taught. But now God was
giving me an opportunity to prove His Word to be gloriously and wondrously
true.
One of the key passages in 2 Corinthians
is greatly needed today. As a matter of fact, there never has been a time when
it was not needed. It is at once both timely and timeless. Let us look together
at this brief portion of two verses:
“Blessed be God, even the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who
comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them who are
in any trouble, by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
When Paul spoke of the God of all
comfort, he was speaking of a knowledge of God that he himself had
experienced. Undoubtedly he included himself in the plural word us in verse 4.
I take this as his personal testimony that in all of his troubles and
tribulations, he was comforted by God. That comfort did not merely enable him
to endure his trials but also to receive special blessings from them. Paul's
knowledge of God as the God of all comfort is therefore not a mere intellectual
and academic one; it is a blessed and rewarding experience. He knows what he is
talking about. He suffered such severe tribulation in Asia that he even
despaired of his life (1:8-9).
In no way can my small trial be
compared with the severity of Paul's many encounters with suffering. But I have
prayed that the Holy Spirit will use this meditation as a testimony to the
effectiveness of those Scriptures in our lives since Elsie had her stroke. The
God of all comfort has been sustaining and strengthening us day by day. He has
relieved the painful pressures so that we are able to bear them without losing
heart.
The word comfort comes from the
Greek word parakle„sis. It appears ten times in verses 3 through 7, and is
translated comfort six times and consolation four times. It combines the idea
of solace with soothing.
Parakle„sis is made up of para
meaning beside, and kaleo„ meaning to call.
The Christian who is suffering needs a special kind of comfort that only God
can give. As our loving Comforter, He stands by our side to minister the
soothing balm we need.
Linked with the description of God
as the God of all comfort is the statement that He is the Father of mercies.
Mercy is the outward manifestation of compassion for others in their
affliction. Mercy had its origin with God, who is called its Father. All acts
of pity and compassion proceed from Him. God has a tender feeling of compassion
for us when we are in distress. Our trials, however slight or severe, have His
attention. David expressed it as follows: “Like as a father pities his
children, so the Lord pities them that fear him. For he knows our frame; he
remembers that we are dust” (Psalm
103:13-14). When we are being tested by
adversity and affliction, compassion flows to us from His great loving heart.
We never need to fear that His supply of mercy will run out, because He is rich
in mercy (Ephesians
2:4).
God showed his mercy by providing
for our eternal salvation, for it was according to his mercy he saved us (Titus 3:5). In another epistle, Paul wrote, “He that spared not his
own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely
give us all things?” (Romans
8:32). One of the all things is His comfort.
All things . . . all comfort. The word all
in the Greek is a strong word. It means every kind, every variety, the whole
of, or the totality of the thing referred to.1
God's comfort is unique. It is
infinite, inexhaustible, immutable, and indestructible. Our afflictions are
temporary and transient; God's comfort is everlasting (2 Thessalonians 2:16). It is available at all times.
No Christian is left to face
sickness and sorrow alone. God said to His children in Israel, “As one whom his
mother comforts, so will I comfort you” (Isaiah 66:13).
The Israelites needed to be reminded of God's love and pity for them when He
redeemed them from Egyptian bondage. Isaiah also wrote, “In all their
affliction he [God] was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in
his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them, and carried them
all the days of old” (Isaiah
63:9).
Some Christians are prone to forget
how real and precious God's love and comfort were when they received the Lord
Jesus Christ as Savior. Friend, your heavenly Father does care, and He does
comfort. Turn to Him and give Him the privilege of ministering to your need.
You are His child, and He is there when you hurt.
Let us now take a look at some of
the divinely provided means of comfort, ways by which God's comfort comes to
us.
First there is the comfort of the
Savior. When our Lord Jesus Christ was on
earth, He was the Comforter to His disciples. He was alongside to sustain them
when they were drifting on the storm-tossed sea. He was alongside to supply for
them when there was a shortage of food. He was alongside to strengthen them
when they suffered persecution at the hands of their enemies. He was alongside
to solace them in their sorrows. He was the divine paraclete.
The Greek word parakete is
translated advocate in 1 John
2:1. “My little children, these things
write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. The word advocate is the same
Greek word translated comforter.”
You see, our Lord's death did not
bring to an end His ministry of comfort for His own. He arose from death and
the grave, and He ascended to heaven, where He is now at the Father's right
hand on our behalf. He is there to represent us, even when we sin. Not that He
asks for leniency, nor that He approves of our sin. But He is there as the One
who fulfilled every demand of the law by His sinless life and substitutionary
death on our behalf. What a blessed Comforter is our Lord Jesus Christ!
The apostle Paul spoke about the
present ministry of Christ for His own in his epistle to the Romans. “Who is he
that condemns? Is it Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is
even at the right hand of God; who also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:34). Paul knew much about the sufferings of this present time
(Romans 8:18). Never once did he deny that Christians would face
adversity and affliction. But he did assure us that the Christian who is called
to suffer has a Comforter in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
By His death Christ removed the
guilt and penalty of our sin; by His resurrection from death He gives eternal
life to every person who trusts Him for salvation; in His ascension and
exaltation to the Father He intercedes for us. He does now appear in the
presence of God for us (Hebrews
9:24), where he ever lives to make
intercession for [us] (Hebrews
7:25). He is touched with the feeling of
our infirmities (Hebrews
4:15), not merely theoretically but
practically. When He was here on earth, Jesus knew what it was to be hungry and
thirsty. He suffered physically. He wept because of the sins and sorrows of
others.
Our great High Priest understands,
and He ministers in our behalf right now. At this very moment He is praying for
us. When we suffer, He understands. In our trials we are blessed by the comfort
of our Savior. This great fact is a source of comfort for Elsie and me.
Second, there is the comfort of the
Spirit. Before our Lord died on the cross,
He said to His disciples, And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you
another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of
truth. . . . I will not leave you comfortless (John 14:16-18). Here we have our Lord's promise that after His departure
He would send the Holy Spirit to carry on the ministry of comfort.
It is recorded of the churches in
Judea, Galilee, and Samaria that they were edified; and walking in the fear of
the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied (Acts 9:31). This is written testimony of the fulfillment of Christ's
promise that another Comforter would come to minister to His church. Those
suffering and persecuted Christians were strengthened by the comfort of the
Holy Spirit.
Like the Savior's comfort, the
Spirit's comfort is for believers. It is only for those who have received the
Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. You see, when a sinner trusts Christ, the Holy
Spirit enters his body to take up permanent residence. All truly saved persons,
without exception, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9; 1
Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20). This is a
pertinent and precious truth, particularly when one is experiencing suffering or
sorrow.
When J. Sidlow Baxter's wife died,
he was living in California. I was in Florida at that time, so I telephoned him
to express my sympathy and to offer any assistance that might be needed. When
he answered my call, it was obvious he was in deep sorrow. But I shall never
forget what he said: “Lehman, I am very lonely, but I am not alone. I am being
comforted.” I knew what he meant. He had walked daily in fellowship with the
Holy Spirit, so in his sorrow he experienced the Spirit's comfort.
A woman had taken a trip to the Holy
Land and was relating her experience. She said, “Never in my life have I felt
so near to God. I plan to make the trip again. It will be worth the money I
spend to be so near to God again.”
Well, thank God I need not wait for
a trip to Israel to experience God's nearness. These are days when Elsie and I
need comfort. Right now I am painfully conscious of my own weakness and
inadequacy. But I am also aware of the Holy Spirit's presence in me, along with
His bountiful provision. As I write, we are being comforted. One of Paul's
prayers for the Christians at Ephesus is being answered now in our behalf: “That
He would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
with might by his Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16).
I am not suggesting that the way is
easy. In my best moments I am aware of dangerous and devilish intrusions into
my mind. The Christian life is a conflict. “For the flesh lusts against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the
other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Galatians 5:17). If we give way to the sinful nature in us, we grieve the
Holy Spirit and miss His comfort. But when we are controlled by Him, He is a
strong Comforter in our infirmities and afflictions.
Third, there is the comfort of the
Scriptures. The apostle Paul wrote, “For
whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we
through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4). How much do we really know in our personal experience
about the comfort of the Scriptures?
Quite honestly, until our recent
trial, I had never been put to the test in my own personal life. I saw how
God's Word comforted others in their trials and sorrows as I read it to sick,
suffering, and bereaved Christians. I could vouch for the truth and accuracy of
Hebrews 4:12, which says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.” I knew that Word had quickened and saved me
in 1927, and I had witnessed its power to comfort others.
But now I am the person passing
through the fiery trial. Now I am in need of comfort. I recalled the times I
expounded Hebrews
4:12, emphasizing the importance of the
word quick or alive. I explained that the Greek verb azo, a present
participle, means that God's Word is continuously alive and active. The Bible
is not a dead letter; it is not passive nor passé. It is continuously at work,
producing and preserving spiritual life.
Then too, the Word of God is
powerful. The Greek word translated powerful is energe„s,
from which we get our English word energy. It is powerful enough to reach the
innermost recesses of each of us, down deep where we really hurt. Paul could
have had all this in mind when he spoke of the comfort of the scriptures.
One reason the Scriptures were
written was to comfort God's children in times of sickness, suffering, and
sorrow. The learning we glean from the Bible is for the everyday experiences of
life, and comfort is one of the needs the Scriptures supply. The very fact that
Paul quoted from the Old Testament tells us that he depended upon the
Scriptures for consolation and encouragement. Comfort is one of the blessings
God gives to us through His Word.
An important factor is that we must
receive the Word of God in faith. God's truth must be appropriated with
implicit trust, and with no mental reservations whatsoever. Paul expressed this
idea clearly in his first epistle to the Thessalonians when he wrote, “For this
cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of
God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is
in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). The mere reading of some portion of Scripture or
listening to someone expound it is not sufficient in itself. The Word must be
applied. James said, “But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves” (James
1:22).
The Bible has been our guidebook
throughout the years of our marriage. We believed it, taught it to our
children, and sought to obey its precepts. We knew it worked. But now we are
facing a severe personal trial. It has afforded us an excellent opportunity to
prove the Bible's effectiveness in the hour of affliction and adversity. Elsie
was helpless, unable to read. So it was left to me to find comfort in the
Scriptures and then to share it with her. In my heart has come a deeper hunger
for God's Word. In fact, my desire to listen to God speak to me is greater than
my desire to pray. When I pray, I speak to God. When I read God's Word, He
speaks to me, and I need to know what He has to say in the dark hour.
While Elsie was in the hospital,
each morning I would thank Him for blessings and mercies, which I mentioned one
by one. Then, after a request for guidance, I would go immediately to the Word.
After I read and meditated quietly, I selected a verse, typed it on a 3 by 5
card, and began my drive to the hospital. On the way down I memorized the
verse. Throughout the day I read it to Elsie at intervals, and before leaving
her at night we would recite it together. This became our daily practice, and
it continues to be the main source of strength and comfort to us.
As I write these lines, it is almost
two years since our trial began. The Word of God is our stronghold. God remains
faithful, and His grace continues to be sufficient. We are confident that He
who began His good work in us will carry it on to completion, until our Lord
Jesus Christ returns (Philippians
1:6). In that day we shall be like him;
for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2).
1
W.E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of the New Testament (Nashville: Thomas
Nelson, 1978), pp. 46-47.
Lehman Strauss taught Old Testament
history for eight years at Philadelphia Bible Institute, and served as pastor
of the Calvary Baptist Church, Bristol, Pennsylvania, from 1939 to 1957.
He was pastor of Highland Park
Baptist Church (Highland Park, Michigan) until the end of 1963 when he resigned
to devote full time to an itinerant Bible conference and evangelistic ministry
both in the States and abroad. Dr. Strauss was residing in Florida and writing
his 19th book at age 86 when the Lord called him home in June 1997.
