Sermon Video: "comfort my people, says your God", Isaiah 40:1-5

The prophet Isaiah offers a word of hope and comfort to the generation to follow that will experience the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile: "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God."  Why?  In the aftermath of tragedy, where does the comfort come from?  The Promise of God.

Isaiah was told to encourage them that their exile would mark the extent of God's wrath and that he would soon send forth those to prepare the way to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.

Matthew calls upon Isaiah's words 500 years after the Exiles took comfort from it to proclaim that John the Baptist had fulfilled the prophecy a second time when he prepared the way for the Messiah, offering a message of repentance prior to the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.

Lastly, in any generation, we live by faith just as our ancestors did, we too take comfort from our knowledge that God keeps his promises, that no matter how we feel about the present or the future, God is working in our world.  Our calling is to remain faithful, here and now, knowing that like always God's word will stand.

Sometimes, I don't have any answers

Sometimes you just don’t have any answers. You’ve heard about a tragic situation, or maybe listened as a friend relates the agonizing details of a loss. Answers just don’t come. You could quote Scripture, and if you think of the right passage that might help, but sometimes your mind goes blank and all you have to give is, “I know” or “I’m sorry”. Then again, maybe that’s the right thing to do anyway; James said we should be quick to listen and slow to speak so maybe we shouldn’t be trying to think of what we should say and simply concentrate on listening. Bad things do happen to good people. Our world is neck deep in sin and rebellion toward everything that is good and noble and pure. Is it any wonder that good people suffer too? Death, disease, fire, storms, corruption, greed, hatred; they’re all a part of this world we’ve made for ourselves (in the sense that this is what it’s like apart from God; man’s rebellion is reaping only what it once sowed). How does anyone make it through a good week without the hope of knowing God? Should we be surprised that people try to drown out their sorrow in alcohol, sex, and drugs? Without God, we don’t have any answers.


Back to my original thought; sometimes I don’t have any answers; that seems odd because people count on me for answers all the time. If answers are what you crave, you’ll have to ask God, but I have a feeling that when you or I stand face to face with Jesus Christ the last thing we’ll be wondering about are the answers.

II Corinthians 1:4 "so that we can comfort"

Why do we endure troubles and trials? No simple answer will satisfy the question that has echoed since the days of Job (beware of those peddling simple answers), but in II Corinthians 1:3-7 Paul offers us one reason why we may endure such difficulties. The answer is that we learn to comfort others when we ourselves receive comfort from God. Because God is merciful, we can learn to show mercy, because God is forgiving, we can learn to forgive, and because God comforts those in need, we too can learn to be comforters in the imitation of our Father. It's not a complete answer, it isn't supposed to be, but perhaps the next time you stare into the heavens and ask, "Why me Lord?", it'll be a bit of comfort for you to know that you may be learning to be a more useful child of God.