What does the Bible say about comfort?

As is well known, the words "comfort" and "consolation" (they are the same word in the original), which run through this scripture, might be, and often are, rendered "encouragement." It is not easy, however, to press all their meaning into any one single term; for, as will readily be perceived, wherever encouragement is ministered, by whatever means, the effect will be comfort to the soul. The same word in another form, it will be remembered, is used of the Holy Spirit by the Lord Himself in John's Gospel, and is given in our translation as the "Comforter"; and it is adopted by John in his first epistle to describe the service of our blessed Lord on high in relation to any of His people who may fall into sin, though here our translators have chosen the word "Advocate" to express its meaning. We need not further discuss the term, for what has been said will suffice to enable the reader to compare the several passages: we simply add that in the following remarks we shall keep to the term "comfort," leaving it to the reader to expand its significance and apply it as he may be taught and led by the Holy Spirit.

How blessed, then, to know that the God of our salvation, the One who has been fully set forth in Christ, is "the God of all comfort." The phrase is preceded by another - "the Father of mercies"; that is, as we understand it, the mercies or compassions which have been ministered to us through our Lord Jesus Christ have all flowed out to us through Him from the Father's heart. (Compare Rom. 12:1; 1 John 3:1.) In like manner, God is the blessed fount and source of all the comfort which can be received, and He is this because He is the God of resurrection. Now that . He has been fully glorified in the death of His beloved Son, He is set free in righteousness to let the mighty tide of His comforts flow out, without let or hindrance on His side, into the sorrowing hearts of His people in every part of the world. The only barrier to its inflow, at any time of need and distress, is to be found in our own state. A clear way has been made for Himself to minister it; but, alas! its reception is often checked by our unbelief and lack of expectation.

Together with this it must be remembered that, if He is "the God of all comfort," there is no comfort outside of Himself. It is one of the sorrowful failings of His people that they do so often turn to other sources for relief and alleviation in seasons of grief; and thereby they miss the blessed lessons which He would teach them through their exercises under His chastenings. Like Israel of old, instead of turning at once, when under pressure, to Himself, they frequently have recourse to the broken cisterns which can hold no water. Not living amid unseen things, they want human sympathies and support, and seek thus to comfort themselves, only, however, to realise, sooner or later, that the very thing which they most craved for and obtained for themselves was but another means of sorrow. No! God is "the God of all comfort," and His mourners are shut up to Him, for He alone can put off their sackcloth and gird them with gladness, and cause them to sing praise to Him and not be silent. Taking up this attitude of waiting alone upon Him, they will soon learn that, if weeping endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning. Let these two things, therefore, be engraven upon our hearts, that He Himself is the source of all our comfort, and that there is no comfort elsewhere to be found.

God’s comfort can meet us in whatever trial we may be found, for He is the God of all comfort, ministering to the troubled heart a divine solace that dispels anxious care, and brings into the soul the sense of His great love, and the realisation that He knows all about what is happening, not a disinterested spectator, but One who is ordering all for His own glory and our greatest good. He can comfort directly as we go to Him, and pour into His listening ear what afflicts us. Every feeling of the heart is known to Him as is every circumstance in which we find ourselves. Perfect love and perfect skill blend in the circumstances directly ordered of Him, and all that He may allow the enemy to bring against us is controlled by Him, for the enemy is not free to do as he pleases with us.

Finally, we are told God's object in comforting His people in their tribulations. It is "that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." God ministers His consolations to us, in the first instance, for our own enjoyment; and furthermore to qualify us for the same kind of blessed service. Nothing that we receive from Him is for ourselves only. We are to be like Himself - givers, but, in our case, givers of that which He has bestowed upon us out of His own fulness through the Lord Jesus Christ. And let it be remembered that it is His love which prompts Him to comfort us in our tribulation; and it is only when the divine affections are in activity in our hearts that we can be vessels of consolation to others. May we all be so constantly receiving, that we may know more of this ministry amongst His people!

In his second letter to the Corinthian believers the apostle Paul speaks of God as the "Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort." This is a most precious title, and whilst the word used carries with it more the thought of encouragement, the two meanings are not unrelated to each other. Our source of comfort and of encouragement is in God Himself. What perfect understanding the blessed God has of all our needs, and what infinite resources from which he can meet those needs, ministering comfort to our hearts in doing so. As encouraged by Him it is our happy privilege to act in like manner towards others, and how extensive the circle of those needing comfort is! "Who comforteth us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." How precious a service! perhaps rendered in obscurity, but valued by God who is Himself the Source of all encouragement. A letter to a bereaved saint; a visit to the sick-bed; a word of cheer to the depressed; a helping hand to the harassed and weary; a word of encouragement to the young in the faith. In many and various ways the comfort wherewith we ourselves have been comforted can be ministered to others.

In Romans 15:4, we read of the "comfort of the Scriptures." Here again the word has the force of encouragement. In Psalm 119, in which we have some 174 verses containing references to the word of God (expressed by several different words, but all referring to His word), the Psalmist in verse 50 uses the usual word for comfort, "This is my comfort in my affliction; for Thy word hath quickened me." Again in verses 76 and 82 the thought of comfort is connected with the word of the Lord. In a world so full of perplexity and uncertainty, where men's hearts are surely "failing them for fear," how thankful we are to have recourse to the Holy Scriptures. What comfort and encouragement is ours as we see in them the mind of the blessed God revealed, and the outpourings, too, of His eternal heart of love. The evil rampant in the world is all under the eye of God; nothing is out of control, all will be judged and removed for ever. Our souls can rest in His love and His power.

The God whom he blesses is "the Father of all consolation and the God of all encouragement" (N.Tr.). And thus Paul knew Him. This was not theology, cold, pulseless theology, correct and orthodox; it was not mental knowledge learned by rote to be repeated again, parrot like. No, Paul had learnt what he knew by experience; he knew God in the very depths of his soul and had proved the greatness of His consolations in his darkest hours. He had got to the Source, to the Originator of every bit of true comfort that ever came to any suffering man or woman on earth, for God is the Father of all compassions. Many and varied are the channels through which His comforts flow, but His heart is the spring of them all, and Paul knew Him, and knew Him as greater than the greatest calamity that could befall a man on earth. God was his resource and his reward and be wanted nothing more.

In Acts 9:31 we read of "the comfort of the Holy Ghost," He who is Himself the "Comforter." This was something known and appreciated by the early believers in a very practical sense, it was no mere theory or doctrine, they "were walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost." As indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God untold wealth is available to us in this the Spirit's day. Many Scriptures speak of the service of the Holy Spirit, but the words of the Lord Jesus Himself in John 14, 15 and 16 as He speaks of the Comforter, manifest His tender consideration for His own during the time of His absence from them. That which He predicated of the Holy Spirit is for us to enjoy, a divine Person with unlimited power and affection abides with us for ever. He knows our every thought and desire, and is ever ready to engage our affections with the glories of Christ. Thus immeasurable comfort is ours as we are found walking in the power of an ungrieved Spirit.

The Lord Jesus was the Comforter of His own while He was personally with them upon earth; now, in the absence of Jesus, the Spirit of God has come and has taken up His gracious work for the weak and tried children of God. As Comforter, the Holy Spirit abides with the believer for ever. Unseen and unknown by the world, He dwells in and with His people, and ministers to them Christ and the Father's love. The Lord, in order to make good to us the blessings He came from heaven to bestow, had to die and leave this world, but the Holy Spirit has come to us, being sent from heaven by the ascended Man, Christ Jesus. He has united us to Christ, and the blessings being all ours in Christ, it is His gracious ministry to comfort our hearts, by filling us with the realization of the blessings, and the love of the Blesser. The joy which fills the breast of the believer is due to the presence of the Spirit, who is the well of water within him springing up unto everlasting life.

You will admit that it must be blessed for the Lord to have His redeemed people at home, and that it must be blessed for them to be there with Him, for as in the new earth there will be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying nor any more pain, and all tears will be wiped from all eyes, so must it be now in the presence of the Lord. You have no doubt as to all this, but what of yourself? You have sorrow and tears enough, you have been left lonely and desolate; and what a desolator death is! You hear the words of your friends, and they are sympathetic words, and are spoken for your consolation, but how cold the warmest of them seem to be. You feel that they do not understand what this means to you. There is a certain comfort in their words but they do not go far enough. There is a depth within you that they cannot reach, and your sorrow lies in that unreachable depth; there is a secret chamber within your heart that the most intimate of your friends cannot enter, and it is in that very chamber that this sorrow of yours has taken up its abode. Can there be any blessedness for you? Yes, for the Lord Himself has said, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." And He will make good His own word, even to you. Your sorrow has made more room for Him in your life than ever there has been before; it has made you feel your need of Him as you never felt it before. He has never been far away from you. He is at your side now. He is waiting for you to admit Him into that secret chamber where your grief holds its sway. He would enter there that He might fill it with His own peace, the peace of His presence. He is the great Comforter, and He is this because He fully understands. Nobody else does. Your heart knows its own bitterness, and there are times when your best friends seem complete strangers to you, so little do they understand you and enter into your feelings, but it is not so with Him. He knows you through and through, He understands, and because He understands and knows all you are passing through, He can sympathize.

Think of broken-hearted Mary. She brought her sorrow to the feet of the Lord as He waited for her outside the town of Bethany. "If Thou hadst been here," she cried, "my brother had not died." Then she looked up into His face through her tears, and lo, JESUS WEPT. Was not she at that moment most blessedly comforted? She had known that He loved her before, but she had never known that He loved her like that. His tears were more eloquent than words, and she found that His sympathy was greater than her sorrow. He did not speak to her, but He kept close by her side, and you may be sure that it was true of her, then and there, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."

1895 307 No comfort can be true and divine and consequently effectual, that concerns itself alone with the trial and sorrow. It is truly a welcome relief to the aching heart to find another heart entering into its grief; but this is sympathy rather than comfort.

The characteristic of comfort is that it strengthens the soul to bear its burden with fortitude as well as resignation; and it accomplishes this result by considering the trial in the light of the glory of God. When sorrows overtake and overwhelm the soul, it gives itself many a bitter pang by reiterating the question — Why do I suffer this? Why has this come upon me? And under these circumstances there can he no real comfort, until such a one lays hold by faith upon the fact which scripture abundantly reveals, that the clouds and storms are but agents in the development of the beneficent purposes of God. All things are working together for the accomplishment of good; and this to those who love God and who are the called according to purpose. This we had not known but for the word of God; but He has given it for our comfort, and that we may thereby trace His hand in each event, minute or mighty, which befalls us. Leave God out, and all is confusion and anarchy: a crowd of pitiless misfortunes grinding man to the very dust of the ground from whence he was formed. Bring God in, and the man of faith can rejoice in tribulations also.

Let all the sons and daughters of sorrow remember these things for the consolation of their sorrowing hearts. "God comforts those that are cast down." If we were never cast down, we should not know His precious ministry. A stoic does not need the comfort of God. It is worth having a broken heart to have it bound up by our most merciful High Priest.