God and Comfort - Devotional by John Grant

“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem. Isaiah 66:13

It was about midnight and time for the shift change, when the nurse entered my hospital room and quietly wrote her name on the board. After she left the dimly lighted room, I could see her name and then below it. “Our goal for today: Keep you comfortable!”

For someone who was experiencing some pain and discomfort after surgery, those words gave me encouragement. There was actually someone whose prime goal it was to keep me comfortable.

I then thought about God’s many promises that He cares for me and wants to make me comfortable. The word comfort appears many times in the Bible, because our comfort is God’s concern. In Psalms,

“This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life.” Psalm 119:49-50.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes:

“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“.

As I drifted in and out of sleep throughout the night, I kept looking at that note board and then turning my thoughts to God. He is my comforter. I am comforted as I read His Word. I am comforted as I pray to Him and listen for His response. I am comforted as I see God provide the needs for my life. Indeed He is the great comforter, the God of peace, the author of assurance.

What do you look for when you look for comfort? Is it in people or things? The reason the world is so uptight and stressed out is that most people are looking for their comfort in all the wrong places.

God, Himself through the person of Jesus Christ is the author and source of all comfort and peace. Try reading Psalms when you are uptight. The message will do wonders for you. Try drifting off to sleep to Psalms 4:8,

“I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety“.

Or just close your eyes and imagine that God too has a message board in Heaven and on it each day He writes that His goal for the day is to make you and me as comfortable as possible.

by John Grant
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
Used by Permission