Comfort, Not Adandonment

Comfort, Not Abandonment

Psalm 16

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
    I have no good apart from you.”

As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
    in whom is all my delight.

The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
    their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
    or take their names on my lips.

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
    you hold my lot.

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
    in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
    my flesh also dwells secure.

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
    or let your holy one see corruption.

You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

There are many times where we can look at life, and it makes no sense at all.  We get tired, we get tired, we seem weak, we are in pain, all appears to be lost.  You might ask yourself, “Where is God in all of this?”  Why are the innocent slain?  Why do children get cancer?  Why do some die for the very Message that gives life?  Has He left us?  He’s not supposed to leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5).

Tragic events help us realize that this world has fallen into sin, and we have contributed to it as well.  We may have not done anything grievous to the world’s standard, but anything we do apart from God’s will puts enmity between us and Him.  There is no comfort in this, but there is comfort in the joy we get from humility.  I’ve been told, and can attest, that the longer you are a Christian, the bigger you see your sin.  In that, you how much bigger God is than your sin, and ultimately you see how big His love is.

There is also comfort in community.  What I love about our church is that we are just one big family.  I can honestly say that I haven’t felt this “at home” for a long time in a congregation.  Through God’s mercy, He uses fellowship to help us through our darkest times.  Situations can be very difficult to carry, and the family we call the Church, helps us shoulder the load that we were not meant to take on our own.

There is comfort in our salvation.  In God’s infinite wisdom, He chooses us to love.  I can never answer why, but He does.  In this love, He refers to us as sons and daughters, heirs to the Kingdom.  This world is not out home.  We have something far better waiting for us.  Although it can be very difficult to see the forest beyond the trees, whatever we experience in the here and now will be the closest to Hell we will ever get, paradise awaits us.

There is comfort in wisdom.  In times of trial and tribulation, it is tempting to ask, “why me?”  I cannot blame you, it’s not fun.  In a sermon by Eric Mason, he talks about the struggles we face and states, “I’ve been coming to church, I’ve been reading your word, I’ve been praying, I’ve been doing all of these things. Where in the world were you? He can handle it. He can handle it. Vent to your God today. Tell him the greatest mark of unbelief in your life.”  While we have a God the we can be honest with, who gave us emotions to express, there are reasons we go through what we go through.  A theological term for this is theodicy.  A mature way of experiencing pain instead of asking “why me” might be “why God?”  God should be the center of our lives, and therefore the question should revolve around Him despite the amount of suffering we are enduring.  If we ask for wisdom, He will grant it to us (James 1:5).  Our pain today may be comfort to someone tomorrow.  Our pain may be a guide to a better plan.  Our pain can show us just how much God loves us.

There is comfort in hope.  Earlier I stated that our salvation gives us reason to believe that this life is temporary and that something far greater has been prepared for us.  We will be with Him where there will be no pain, no death, no sin.  Believing that the New Kingdom; the New Heaven, the New Earth is our ultimate destination; we can (and must) have hope that God will still do incredible things while we are in this fallen world.  When Matt Chandler was battling cancer, he leaned on the passage in Daniel 3 in which Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood up the King Nebuchadnezzar.  Chandler summed it up as, “He can, He will, and even if He doesn’t…”  In hard times, believe God can deliver you from it; God will deliver you from it, and even if He doesn’t, He is still good.  We may get this wisdom from community, but definitely from humility, which we get from salvation.

I love you all,

Justin