Morning By Morning #51

God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us.

2 Corinthians 7:6

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

And who comforts like God? Just observe some poor, depressed, and troubled child of God who is told pleasant promises and who has had carefully chosen words of comfort whispered in his ear. His response is like that of a deaf cobra who ignores even the best tactics of the most talented snake charmers. After all, his life is full of bitterness right now and all the attempts of comfort in the world may only evoke a sigh or two of mournful resignation, not hallelujahs, joyful poems, or songs of praise.

Yet when God comes to His child, He lifts up his downcast countenance and the once tearful eyes suddenly glisten with hope. Can you hear his song?

’Tis paradise, if You are here;

If You depart, ’tis hell.

Author unknown

You could not have cheered him, but the Lord can do it, for He is “the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3). There is “no balm in Gilead” (Jer. 8:22), but there is healing in the Lord. There is no such physician among created beings, but the Creator is Jehovah-Rapha—the God who heals. Isn’t it wonderful how one sweet word from God will translate into entire songs for Christians? One word from the Lord is like a piece of gold to a believer, who is like a jeweler, shaping and hammering out the promise for a number of weeks.

Consequently, poor troubled Christian, you do not have to give up in despair. Go to the Comforter and ask Him to grant consolation to you. Perhaps you feel like a poor dry well, but surely you have heard that when a pump is dry, it must first be primed by pouring water through it. Only then will the water begin to flow. So, dear believer, when you are dry, go to God and ask Him to pour His joy into your heart that “your joy will be complete” (John 16:24, also see Rom. 5:5).

Do not go first to your earthly friends, for after all is said and done, you will find them to be like Job’s “comforters.” Instead, go first and foremost to your “God, who comforts the downcast.” Then you will soon be prepared to say, “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul” (Ps. 94:19).

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

It seems the last thing we do when depressed is turn to God. But for believers, He should never be the place of “last resort.” The psalmist understood the importance of turning to Him for consolation, for he wrote:

“Unless the LORD had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul” (Ps. 94:17, 19).

Jesus is the personification of that consolation. When He was dedicated as a baby at the temple, a man named Simeon was there. “He was waiting for the consolation of Israel,” for “it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:25 – 26).

Take your depressed soul to Jesus today, for He is “the consolation of Israel.”