As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem (Isa. 66:13).
When Thomas Carlyle lay dying, he was asked if there was anything he wanted. Turning his face to the wall, the granite of his old Scotch heart broke up and he sobbed, "I want ma mither; I want ma mither!"
We can see how God is a father, but He comforts us as a mother also. Of all the comfort that a child loves best, it's Mother. One father can testify that, when for a good while the mother was away from home, the children would come to him with their little sorrows, accidents, aches, and pains; but just as soon as the mother returned, whenever they were hurt or had a childish heartbreak, they would run right past him, crying, "Where is Mother? Where is Mother?"
In this text God invites us to the unreserved confidence, to the holy familiarity, to the sacred rest, that His great father-mother heart longs to give. Sometimes we can respond only with sighs and sobs, but He does not despise them. He understands our tears and remembers that we are dust (Ps. 103:14). He can deal with our false and broken hearts much better than even our own mothers can.
Let us not try to bear our grief alone, but let us come to Him who is so gentle, so kind, so understanding. And let us invite others, that they too may be comforted with "the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God" (2 Cor. 1:4).
Why not more sermons from our pulpits, in our homes, in our lives, from Isaiah 40:1,2: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned"?
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant" (Ps. 119:76).
When Thomas Carlyle lay dying, he was asked if there was anything he wanted. Turning his face to the wall, the granite of his old Scotch heart broke up and he sobbed, "I want ma mither; I want ma mither!"
We can see how God is a father, but He comforts us as a mother also. Of all the comfort that a child loves best, it's Mother. One father can testify that, when for a good while the mother was away from home, the children would come to him with their little sorrows, accidents, aches, and pains; but just as soon as the mother returned, whenever they were hurt or had a childish heartbreak, they would run right past him, crying, "Where is Mother? Where is Mother?"
In this text God invites us to the unreserved confidence, to the holy familiarity, to the sacred rest, that His great father-mother heart longs to give. Sometimes we can respond only with sighs and sobs, but He does not despise them. He understands our tears and remembers that we are dust (Ps. 103:14). He can deal with our false and broken hearts much better than even our own mothers can.
Let us not try to bear our grief alone, but let us come to Him who is so gentle, so kind, so understanding. And let us invite others, that they too may be comforted with "the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God" (2 Cor. 1:4).
Why not more sermons from our pulpits, in our homes, in our lives, from Isaiah 40:1,2: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned"?
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant" (Ps. 119:76).
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