| The Ministry of Comfort |
Chapter 3 |
Page 7 |
We have the same teaching in the word “comfort” itself, whose meaning is ofttimes greatly misunderstood. Many persons looking for comfort in sorrow expect that the bitter cup will be taken away or at least that its bitterness will be alleviated. But the world comfort is from a root which means to strengthen. Hence it contains no promise that in any way the burden will be made lighter, or the grief less poignant. God comforts us by giving us strength to endure our trial. For example, when we turn to Him in bereavement, He does not restore our beloved, nor make the loss appear less – which could be done only by making us love less, since love and grief grow on the same stalk – but gives us new revealing of His own love to fill the emptiness, and to put into our heart new visions of the life into which our friend has gone, to help us to rejoice in his exaltation to blessedness.
We have an illustration of the divine comforting in the way our Lord Himself was helped in His great sorrow. As He entered the experience He prayed that the cup might pass, yet praying submissively. The prayer was not answered in the form in which it was made. Instead of relieving Him of His suffering, strength was ministered to Him, and as we listen we find the intensity of His supplication subsiding into sweet acquiescence. Thus He was comforted, and passed through all the bitter trial of the cross without one other cry for relief, His heart filled with perfect peace. It is thus that usually God’s comfort comes to His people – not in the lifting off of their weight of sorrow or pain, but in strengthening them for victorious endurance.
Page 7