Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of the month of April 2020. My prayer is that the comfort of God will overflow and overwhelm your life all through this period of national and worldwide crises, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Evidently, these are very difficult times for people all around the world. And that is basically because of the partial or total lockdown that we all are faced with. So, those who have money cannot really spend it to enjoy themselves the way they would love to. And those who do not have are agitated because they cannot go out to make some money to take care of themselves. Then those who have or who are suspected to have contacted this horrible disease ‘Coronavirus’ have had to unhappily surrender themselves for isolation and treatment. And families of those who died as a result of the disease also have had to deal with the pains of not being able to give them proper burial or pay their dead bodies their last respect.
To make matters worse, many in different parts of the world are daily confronted with the reality of the incompetence and limitations of their leaders. Many can now see for themselves that their so-called leaders, whether at the national level or at the community level, only care about themselves and are so selfish that all they can think of at the moment is how to take advantage of the present crises to further enrich themselves. This is why their supposed relief measures have become the laughingstock of many. Also, many can now see that their leaders, whom they have literally worshipped for years, are only humans too – they are not God. So, apart from the fact that they too can be messed up by this fast spreading horrible disease, they are equally and terribly limited in terms of capacity to handle certain life’s problems, even though some of them seem to be trying their best to help.
What, then, are we to do in the midst of these terrible times that are driving many crazy? Who are we to turn to for comfort and relief at such a time as this? It is clear that we all need to be comforted and given relief from the evils of these times. But who can we trust to comfort us now? And who actually has the capacity to do so?
Well, Paul, in one of his letters, answers these questions for us, when He says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2Cor 1:3-4NIV) Look at the way he describes God here. He calls Him the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. So, two things stand out here about the character of God. The first is that He is a compassionate Father. That means He is a Father that will not sit still and watch His children or anyone who reaches out for Him to suffer or get destroyed by their problems. The second thing about God is that He is the God of all comfort. In other words, every measure or form of comfort anybody can hope to have or receive in this life is with God and can only come from Him.
Therefore, at such a time as this, when most people are going crazy because they are distressed and really have no one to trust or depend on, we, who are God’s children, ought to be drawing their attention to the fact that we have a Father who will not only show them compassion but also comfort them. But if we ourselves have not learnt to receive and enjoy His comfort, there is no way we can lead others to do the same. For instance, the reason Paul was able to say through that letter that God is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort was that he himself had been enjoying His comfort. Then he made it clear that one of the reasons God was comforting them was that they too would be able to comfort others who are in trouble with the same comfort they had received from Him.
So, in order for us to serve as a channel through which others will receive and enjoy God’s comfort anytime, especially now, we must first show that our own lives are receiving and enjoying His comfort. But our lives will not receive and enjoy His comfort, if our hearts are not resting on Him and reaching out to receive from Him all that we need. If we, therefore, want to be fully comforted and also be channels of comfort for those around us during this period, let us set our hearts fully on God. And just as He comforted Job, David, Paul and other saints of old in their times of distress, He will comfort us too and also use us in comforting others with the same comfort we have received from Him.
Do have a week full of comfort.
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