Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
- II Corinthians 1:3-4
Two things spoke God's heart to me in these verses:
- God definitely COMFORTS us in trouble - He doesn't leave us to wonder, analyse or strive in feverish excitement.
- God comforts us in ALL our troubles, not just some. We would sometimes think that God's comfort is selective - and foolishly go through SOME of our troubles alone, drawing on our own hoarded resources.
I make it a point to write down every comforting thought and verse that God brings to me when I'm in the valley. I do that because I know that my experiences are not for me alone, but the comfort I receive will be desperately needed and sought by someone else who goes through something similar. The writing I have included below happened on May 25, 2007 (for some circumstance I no longer remember) - but I do remember the weight of these thoughts pressing on me to write them down.
After writing them down, I didn't like what emerged. The fussy writer in me said, NOOOOO!!!! It's too cloying. But now I think - who am I to think this?
I'm thankful that I did preserve it, because what I think about it as a writer is of negligible importance and is totally irrelevant - what's important is that God in His FAITHFULNESS over the years continues to remind me of past deliverance, and His commitment to see me through, no matter how dark the night and how deep the valley. So, here it is, with a few refining touches, otherwise unexpurgated.
May the LORD bless these words to your heart and touch you at your point of need today. He is indeed the God of all comfort, who comforts us in ALL our troubles.
I don't know quite how to begin saying this or indeed, what to say. May the good LORD guide me.
A few minutes ago some thoughts occurred to me. They raced through my mind like piercing swords of light through the dark, blanketing fog that enshrouds my mind. Many stories in the Bible began to make a lot of sense and stood out like beacons.
It all has to do with this question - WHY?
Why does God allow things to happen to us? What does He do, where is He when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, as it were?
Often, I would venture to say, more often than not, things come up on us without warning. Bookmark that phrase "without warning" because that is what the LORD seems to be saying. Many of our experiences, especially the "bad" ones....they seem to come, in our understanding, WITHOUT WARNING. There is almost NO WAY to answer questions like "Why this? Why me? Why now?"
Some answers that came to me are these. Does God allow bad experiences to come to us? Everyone would answer, YES! Does God always tell us about impending tragic circumstances? NO. Of course there are many people in the Bible to whom God revealed exactly what they were to go through BEFORE the circumstances came up on them. In our experience, however, it is only those who are deeply in tune with His heart and His leading, who are able to comprehend what the LORD is saying when He tells us about things to come. The vast majority of us, in practice, are like sheep - we neither are able to meaningfully understand how the LORD led us in our past, nor have we any inkling of how future days will be. Even in the event of being told about the future, prophetically, if you will, we lack the intimacy with God we need to be prepared in any way for the future.
So even if we are told about the future, it does not stand to reason that we go into the future PREPARED and EQUIPPED. Knowledge of impending events does not mean preparedness for them. This, of course, is our own fault every time, because God can never be blamed for our lack of intimacy and trust in Him.
So what we do have is a situation where, in regard to future events, we might know a few specifics, or know nothing at all. In effect, therefore, PRACTICALLY, if you will, most (bad) events OVERTAKE us without any seeming prior warning.
Having come into these situations, we have questions. Where is God now? Most of the time, we don't know. What will God do? Don't be too disillusioned....but we have to face the fact that God in many cases DOES NOTHING. Will He deliver us in a way that we can understand? Maybe, but that doesn't seem to be a given.
There is another set of questions. Has God knowingly and willingly allowed bad things? The answer here is, if they are happening and He hasn't stopped them, YES. Is God in control of things? YES, or He wouldn't be God. Will God lose control of things? No, or He wouldn't be God.
Then the biggest question and the biggest consternation - what about His promises? What about all that He has unquestionably promised in the Bible - all those verses (millions, actually) about NEVER LEAVING US OR FORSAKING US TILL THE END, about delivering us from disaster, about having plans only to bless and prosper us, and not to harm us?
The answer that came to me is this - God wants us to know Him. He wants us to walk closer. He wants to talk to us, and teach us to hear His voice and RECOGNIZE it. He wants us to TRUST in Him and let go of ourselves. He wants us in unbroken, deep, intimate RELATIONSHIP with Him not just one day or two, but for a lifetime. He wants us to learn what He really thinks about us, so that we may never doubt Him.
I sometimes wonder - if God always delivered us in ways that we would like, and whenever we asked, from the smallest of our difficulties, what are we really learning about Him? Would we be so deeply imprinted with His love, would we comprehend his control over the universe, would we know Him as truly God? I think not.
The fact is, when bad situations overtake us......He is in control. He isn't a control freak who needs to compulsively DEMONSTRATE His control, but nothing can happen, not even the smallest thing, without His touch. I ask, why are we worried when He knows what is going on? Has He left us? How can He - He promised to not leave us ever! Just because He doesn't show us His control in bad situations in ways that we would like, we cannot surmise that He isn't in control.
What will happen to us? Should we look out for ourselves? I answer with another question - please do tell me how far we would have to go to "fall out" of His hands. Is it possible for us to go someplace where indeed, God cannot save us? Try and answer that. Here's another telling question - okay, so we take things into our own hands. Can we indeed save ourselves? So why struggle at all? Why waste the analytical striving? Why the fretting and the feverish activity? The bombarding of the mind with thoughts? Leave it to Jesus. But walk towards Him. Walk towards any little light He provides. If He offers a hand, don't just take it - develop a LIFE-HOLD on Him and refuse to let Him go. Don't just settle for His deliverance - settle only for HIM. Walk as if He is always carrying you, because He is INDEED always carrying us. That isn't a lie.
Another thought that came to me is this - the things that happen to us, good or bad, are just THINGS, mere EVENTS, mere CIRCUMSTANCES. Don't label everything as either ONLY good, or ONLY bad. If "bad" things happen, it doesn't mean the LORD has left us. If "good" things happen, it doesn't mean that we have learned everything there is to know about the LORD. Just accept everything as from His hand. Do not analyse needlessly or spend time WORKING IT OUT.
THINGS, EVENTS, CIRCUMSTANCES, EXPERIENCES - all of these are not The LORD to us. Don't let them take His place.
On the other hand, TRY TO TRACE HIS HAND ON YOU. Learn those precious moments when He saved you. Think about what He did, to you and to others....take your eyes off WHAT "is happening", and focus on what GOD is doing.
What, indeed, is God doing? For those of us who know Him and have accepted His death on the cross for us, He has a blood-covenant with us. Get this - God has not broken even SIMPLER covenants with the animals and the birds!! How much more then, a blood-covenant? If He breaks it, He isn't God. And He never will. For those out there who do not know about His saving grace - He still knows every hair on each one's head - not one falls out but that He allows it.
Are you in bereavement today? discouragement? debt? disease? guilt? fear? suicidal feelings? worthlessness? unfulfilled longings? doubt? facing death? Do you feel the keen edge of a freshly-sharpened sword at your throat? Do you want to "give up and die"?
Then know this - The LORD is with you. Where? Right there - by your side - "He's as close as the mention of His name". What is He going to do? NOTHING. He is going to wait for you to turn, look into His eyes and fall into His arms. YOU HAVE TO DO THAT - HE CANNOT MAKE YOU DO IT. He will wait till you do it.......even if it takes forever. He will still wait......till the day you die.
But YOU HAVE TO FALL INTO HIS ARMS. You have to turn, and look into His eyes.
In His eyes, you will see.....
What He thinks about you. Not the you in YOUR SITUATION, not the you others see, not even the you YOU SEE. The YOU HE MADE. He is going to tell you, in great, excruciating detail, what He thinks of you. What He did for you before, and what He wants to do for you now. He will tell you of His love, as many times as you want to know it. He will tell you of His grace, as many times as you need to know it. He will tell you of His power - as many times as you need to have it.
You need only look into His eyes.
Feel His arms - they never stopped holding you. Feel His embrace - you never fell out of it. Feel His strength - stop feeling yours, it was never enough!! Feel his favour - it always LAY HEAVILY ON YOU, on your life, like a blanket that cannot be lifted.
And lastly, HEAR HIS VOICE.
It will never be stilled. Learn its tone, learn to recognize the words it speaks....learn the pictures it paints, learn never to forget it. LISTEN TO IT. Let it be always in your ears.
The LORD isn't in our circumstances - He is in our lives!! He isn't just out there making a way - He is our way!! The LORD isn't in our experiences - He wants to be our experience. He isn't JUST our deliverer, He is our DELIVERANCE.
Now tell me, what will you go through without Him? (Don't answer it - it's a stupid question!!!!)
"At the very thought of Jesus, His presence can be found,
He's as close as the mention of His name,
There is never any distance between my Lord and me,
He's as close as the mention of His name.
He's as close as the mention of His name,
Jesus, Jesus
He's as close as the mention of His name,
Jesus, Jesus
In my hour of struggle, so many times I've found,
He's as close as the mention of His name,
Just breathe the name of Jesus and turn everything around,
He's as close as the mention of His name,
He's as close as the mention of His name,
Jesus, Jesus
He's as close as the mention of His name,
Jesus, Jesus"
- May 25, 2007
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