Comfort

 Comfort, comfort my people, 

says your God.  Isaiah 40:1

     What does comfort mean to you?  To some people it is sitting in our Barka Lounger watching a movie on TV.  Maybe we associate comfort with warm bread or mashed potatoes with gravy.  Perhaps we imagine sitting on a warm beach watching the ocean roll in and out while we sip our beverage out of a glass with an umbrella in it.
     I much prefer comfort over being uncomfortable.  I would like to lead a worry, stress, and trouble free life where tires never go flat, milk doesn’t get spilled, children always speak politely, people never get angry, and chocolate and ice cream are considered health foods.
     Unfortunately, Christians are not promised a comfortable life.  We are instead promised comfort in life.  Comfort comes from the two Latin words: com fortis - literally translated it means “with strength.”  God’s way of giving comfort is to give us strength to do  what needs to be done.  As His strength comes, grief and sorrow go.  The situation may not have changed, but we have a new ability to face our difficulty and deal with it.
     Isaiah 40 continues:

He tends his flock like a shepherd: 
 

He gathers the lambs in his arms 

     
and carries them close to his heart;  

     he gently leads those that have young.  

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, 


     or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? 


Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
 

     or weighed the mountains on the scales
    

     and the hills in a balance? 

Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,
    

     or instruct the Lord as his counselor? 

Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
    

     and who taught him the right way?


Who was it that taught him knowledge, 
    

     or showed him the path of understanding?

Do you not know?
    Have you not heard? 


The Lord is the everlasting God,
    

     the Creator of the ends of the earth. 


He will not grow tired or weary, 
    

     and his understanding no one can fathom.  

He gives strength to the weary 
    

     and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
    

     and young men stumble and fall;  

     but those who hope in the Lord
 will renew their strength. 


They will soar on wings like eagles; 
   

     they will run and not grow weary,
    

     they will walk and not be faint.

     We should throw the weight of our lives into the comforting arms of hope.