Comfort Promised (Lent Devotion) - Friday, March 22
Comfort Promised
Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. (John 16:7)
“What can I do to bring comfort to the family?” Rick thought out loud as we were leaving for yet another funeral. The family of a 14-year-old girl, who died after an assault in a small, rural village in Northern Manitoba, had requested Rick to come and sing at the funeral. I encouraged him to just go and sing, and that it would be God, through the words of the song, that would bring comfort.
He sang what we have come to call the comfort song, based on Isaiah 40. The song is aptly titled, “Comfort My People.”
It is God, through His Holy Spirit, who brings life to the Words of Scripture (John 6:63). It is God, through His Holy Spirit, who brings comfort in our time of loss and pain. God, in His wisdom, has given us the Holy Spirit to be our comforter in this world. But Jesus had to die, rise from the dead, and ascend back to heaven before this could happen.
In John 16:5-7, Jesus says, “Now I am going to Him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘where are you going?’ Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”
That day at the funeral, the family was comforted. Again, we saw God at work through a song, bringing comfort to His people. This is only possible through the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Let us be mindful and thankful during this Lent season for this provision of “comfort” we receive through Jesus Christ.
Dear God, today and throughout this Lent Season, help me to be mindful and thankful for the provision of comfort we receive through Your Son, Jesus. Thank you that You are there to comfort us when life is hard and painful. In Jesus' name, Amen.