God’s word comforted the psalmist. It encouraged him in whatever he faced. The psalmist said God’s word had given him life. And what was life to the psalmist? It was pleasing God so that he could receive God’s love. God comforted the psalmist in his suffering when He was satisfied with the way the psalmist lived his life.
God is the source of all comfort. He comforts you in your suffering—your affliction—your pain—so you can comfort someone else (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). But God also does something else for you he didn’t do for the psalmist. You have New Covenant Grace the psalmist didn’t have. The days of the law—when keeping God’s commandments was how you received comfort—have passed away (Romans 6:14; 7:4). Now you are under the unveiled glory of Christ’s Grace (2 Corinthians 3:16). Jesus is the Word that gives life (1 John 1:1-2). Life to you is not living to earn Christ’s love. Life is receiving the love of God that Jesus bought for you.
What is your real comfort in any affliction—whether it’s sickness or painful circumstance or financial problem? Your comfort is the Truth of God’s Word. God sent Himself as the Word in Christ to set you free from every affliction (John 3:34-35, Psalm 107:20). Your way to receive comfort is better than just struggling to be good enough like the psalmist did. You receive the comfort of Christ’s healing for your affliction by faith (Matthew 9:29, Romans 4:16). Jesus has given His life on the Cross to bring you wholeness of forgiveness, healing, and every need (1 Peter 2:23-24). You lack nothing in Him.
Suffering happens because we live in a fallen world. Sometimes, we even bring it upon ourselves. But God doesn’t place affliction on you like the psalmist experienced. The grace of Jesus changed everything. Does it make sense for a God who loved you enough to die for you to cause pain to get your attention? It is true that suffering can bring you closer to God. But you don’t need suffering to bring you closer to Him. God desires a relationship with you based on His love and forgiveness—not from being forced to perform. A relationship with God that is forced is not a relationship born in the redeeming love of Christ. It is like what the psalmist had— a relationship with God based on how well you lived your life. It was a life where you had to reach God by being good enough. But now God reaches for you because Jesus was good enough instead. You have been redeemed from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13)! God doesn’t use suffering to punish you. Jesus healed all who were afflicted (Mark 3:10, Mark 5:29, Luke 7:21).
Don't be satisfied with just a law kind of comfort in whatever you face. Believe in what Jesus has given His very life-blood for you to own. What is your real comfort in any affliction? It is His Word speaking healing life to you (Proverbs 4:20-22). The Truth of His Word sanctifies and makes you whole in spirit, mind, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). God comforts you in whatever you face, but He offers more than just that. He wishes you to know the wholeness of His life given for yours.
“Religion” reaches to God trying to prove its own righteousness. A relationship with Jesus is where God has reached for you and died for you and rose again for you. Jesus, who had no sin, took your sin and suffered a horrible death so you might receive His righteousness—His forgiveness—His life! Believe God’s Words through Holy Spirit-understanding of New Covenant Grace.
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63, NKJV). You profit nothing by what you do. You don’t earn healing for your affliction. You don’t have to struggle like the psalmist. The Holy Spirit speaks life to you through the Word.
Hear the Word in your heart to have greater faith to believe (Romans 10:17). Believe the Truth of the New Covenant Grace of Jesus. Receive the fulfillment of what you have believed and know the healing—that eternal comfort—of an abundant and Resurrected life.
©2021 Lynn Lacher
www.lynnlacher.com/2021/02/his-wordhis-lifeyour-comfort.html
No comments:
Post a Comment