Good Afternoon Church,
It might surprise some of you that over the last few years I’ve noticed that I tend to feel anxious. Being a pastor, I’ve experienced a fair amount of loss and tragedy, heartbreak and disappointment. And I often carry with me a sense that these things, or worse, will happen again. Thankfully, I have found a great amount of comfort and hope in God’s Word, in three ways.
First, ironically, I have been comforted recognizing that all is “vanity.” The Psalmist says, “For what vanity you have created all the children of man.” (Ps 89:47) Ecclesiastes says, “All is vanity” (1:2, 14, 2:11, 17). This is helpful for me, because I often get overwhelmed with what tomorrow might bring. But even if the worse does come to pass-all is vanity. The realization that someday, if the Lord tarries, I will die. And that is okay. There is a time for everything (Ecc 3:1-8). So what should we do? We should do what God has given us today and rejoice in it (3:9-13). This is good. Then we (who are in Christ at least) will go to glory. This is God’s plan for us.
Second, I have found great comfort in the words of 1 Peter 5:7, “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” In the words of 1 Peter, he actually cares for us. This is incredible to think of: no matter what might come tomorrow, he is holding me fast. Nothing will come upon me which he has not considered. Nothing will come upon me which he is incapable of sustaining me through. He cares for us, and he wants to hear my prayers (Phil 4:6-7). I can cast all my anxieties on him because he cares for me.
Third, the description of God the Father in 2 Cor 1:3 that God is the “Father of mercies and God of all comfort.” Consider that: any genuine comfort, hope, or help in this broken world comes from the Father. The Father is a Father of comfort; it is part of his Fatherly nature to comfort us. He comforts us when we’ve sinned against him with the blood of Christ. He comforts us when we misstep with his mercy. He comforts us when we lose purpose with his hope. He comforts us when we have loss with his gain. His comfort his Trinitarian, he adopts us as a comforting Father, he gives us his Son as our advocate (1 John 2:1), and he gives us the gift of the Spirit-our Help (John 16:7)
I suspect that the fact the Lord put it on my heart to write this entry today is not a mistake. Perhaps there is something in your life this week which is overwhelming, dreadful, and foreboding. Perhaps there is a anxious buzz in your soul. Perhaps you will need this. Perhaps, in God’s good providence, these comforts that God has given me might be profoundly comforting for you. After all, he “comforts us in our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Cor 1:4)
Assuming that this is the case, may these precious truths bless you as much as they’ve blessed me.
In Christ’s Love and Care,
Pastor Matt