A Constant Comfort
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” Isaiah 40:1
Comfort MY people. That’s you. God has claimed you, me, and everyone else for all of eternity. Even when the nation of Judah had turned away from the Lord, He longed for the comfort of His people. Just six chapters before this, Isaiah prophesied judgment on the nations. God knew of the struggles and hardships of Jerusalem, of its idolatry and injustice, of the exile of its people to Babylon. However, God wanted to remind His people of the grace that waited in His arms. In all of this, God spoke a message of encouragement and belonging to His people.
We are His people too, still living in a broken world and a time where many are distant from God. When we find ourselves hurting (and we will), God will be there to reaffirm His love, replenish our strength, and fill us with hope. Hope in the form of a Messiah.
Jesus came to display the Lord’s “righteousness” and “glory” (Isaiah 62:2), but he is now the constant source of comfort for God’s people. He has leveled our paths and borne the weight of our iniquities.
Hardship happens, and the world we live in is full of temptation and stress, but we know that our Lord can simply speak comfort into being. His is unwavering in His desire for our consolation because we are His. God always delivers, just as He did for Simeon (Luke 2:25) in his wait for the Messiah.
Remember that God’s comfort always comes through. We can always find our comfort in Christ Jesus. After all, we BELONG to God!
Rowan Williams, 12th Grade Tallowood Student
