The Ultimate Comforter

As I was standing in line today at the grocery store, the cashier was rambling on and on about the inconveniences and troubles of her life. Part of my inner self rolled my eyes – part of me wondered how many times other people have rolled their eyes when I grumbled about my life’s troubles.

We all have our share of troubles, don’t we?

Yet, it took a dear friend informing me that her 3-year-old niece was being put on life support to truly understand there is no competition in times of trouble.

Unfortunately, some people’s worries are about what to feed their children and how to move on after a sudden loss of a child or spouse.

Worry, grief, and agony go far and deep in our broken lives and shattered world.

While the levels and deepness of grief and sorrow vary from situation to situation – we all have experienced hardship at some point or another.

Jesus went 40 days and 40 nights without food or water (Matt 4: 1-11). While His body yearned for nourishment and refreshment; His mind experienced isolation. During His many years of ministry, He lost people He loved, He had friends betray Him deeply (John 18), He experienced relationship conflict (Mark 4:35-41), and loneliness. He got angry (Matt 21: 12-13), sad (Matt 26:37), hopeless (Hebrews 5:7), and exhausted (Luke 22:44).

He battled doubt, disbelief, and uncertainty. And those are just the basic feelings and experiences we can attribute to what we know from scripture. However, the Bible isn’t Jesus’s diary, I’m sure there are other feelings and experiences we don’t know about.

Knowing this brings me comfort. Ultimate comfort. Not only does someone else in this broken world always have it harder than me – but our Lord and Savior knows, he knows what that pain feels like. And when we feel it, He feels it. Our pain is real to Him. He hurts deeper than the hurt we could ever experience.

I don’t think our Father rolls His eyes at our troubles and grief. I believe He wants us to trust in Him – “all things work together for His good” and allow Him, the Great Comforter, to use it all.

Use it all, Lord, use it all.