April 20, 2011 Seeking God's Comfort

The Father’s Comfort
Read Job 15-18

Job 15:11 Is God’s comfort too little for you? Is his gentle word not enough?

WHAT was the first thing God did when Adam and Eve sinned? When He went to them in their nakedness—pure before sin, now shameful after sin— “the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.” (Gen 3:21)
God began to comfort His broken creation. He has been doing so ever since.
Job’s friend, Eliphaz, was asking Job, “Is God’s comfort too little for you? Is his gentle word not enough?” He was hoping Job would seek God’s comfort in his deep torment.
Job, though, was too angry with God. He saw God as his crusher, not comforter. Job was too deep in self pity and regret. Job was too focused on death.
God had allowed great grief into Job’s life. How could God comfort him?
That’s the question we all ask. Where is God’s comfort in the disappointment and darkness of our days?
The place we look to find the Father’s comfort is to the Son’s cross. We look there, and we see agonizing suffering. We look there, and we see deep darkness. We look there, and we see sin’s penalty. We look to the cross, and we see the Son’s victory. We look to the cross, and we see the Father’s comfort on us.
Job didn’t have the cross to look upon. But he had a Father God, who would comfort him in his great distress when he would say to the Father, “I need you.”


Pause and Consider: how much you truly need God’s comfort each day—and thank him that it is free to you.