Remember your promise to me, your servant; it has given me hope. Even in my suffering I was comforted because your promise gave me life. Psalm 119:49-50, GNT

 

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal encouragement and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, NIV

 

At five o’clock one morning I was knocking at the door of two elderly people. The news I was bringing was the kind of news that you hoped never to deliver to anybody. Their daughter, who was born when they were already advanced in years, took her own life earlier that morning. She was to be their joy in their old age, but now there was only sorrow.

 

How do you console or comfort people in such circumstances? Is it possible to be consoled at all? Not everybody experiences something so profoundly traumatic, but many of us have our own story of grief and loss. Perhaps our story has not unfolded yet, but still lies somewhere in the future. We as a family, for instance, have our own story of intense grief with the death of our son-in-law at a young age.

 

The heading of this part of the Psalm, which begins with verse 49, is: “Confidence in the Law of the Lord.” The poet tells us that he was suffering. What gave cause to this distress or misery we do not know, but he was in a severe crisis. In this time of suffering, the only thing that kept him standing was: “Even in my suffering I was comforted because your promise gave me life.” These words ring true for all of us who are suffering. My family can testify to it.

 

There is even more to the story of comfort. Aside from our need for comfort in times of sadness and crisis, we also need comfort in our spiritual lives. The words that Paul wrote to the believers in Thessalonica link up beautifully with those in Psalm 119. Paul also talks about eternal comfort and good hope. In the times when we struggle to live our “every good deed and word” (2 Thessalonians 2:17, NIV), when we feel burdened by everyday problems and especially when our faith is at a low point, God will give us comfort and hope.

 

Prayer: Dear Father, we are but little children who very often skin our knees on life’s rough roads. Without your love and comfort, we cannot be healed. Thank you for always being there when we need to be consoled. Amen