The local newspaper reported that a mother is devastated because her 21-year-old son, who had always seemed like an upright young man, had been arrested for dealing drugs.
Also in our community, the parents and siblings of a 15-year-old are grieving because he was killed in a gun accident.
An aged friend is heartbroken because her only daughter, the person she depended on more than all others, died from cancer.
People who are hurting have a common need: the comfort that comes from trusting God. They need to be assured that tragedy and grief are not a mark of God’s disfavor but that He weeps with them, He loves them, and He will never leave those who are His.
Eliphaz said to Job: “Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have strengthened feeble knees” (Job 4:4). Job earned this tribute despite his own deep suffering. And when we offer comfort to sorrowing and suffering people, we not only emulate Job—we emulate Jesus.
In the midst of a host of hurting people, each one of us can reach out to become a comforter like Job. Let’s ask God to make our hearts tender enough to support and strengthen those who are hurting. — Herbert Vander Lugt
Reach out and give your love to the loveless,
Reach out and make a home for the homeless;
Reach out and shed God’s light in the darkness—
Reach out and let the smile of God touch through you. —Brown
© 1971 Word, Inc
God doesn’t comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters.