Comfort in the Bible

There are three characters in the Bible that I relate very much to since their experience has in many cases been mine. Reading their books I find consolation and courage because I see in how many different ways the Lord leads to salvation.

One of them is Job, whom the devil asked to be tested. He went through fearful experiences, many times he longed for the night to come to find some rest from his pain but he is scared by dreams. He asks the Lord to make him know his transgressions and sins; he realized he is a target of God’s care and says in Job 13:27, “yÀu Pu^ my feet in the stocks, and watch closely all my paths. You set a limit for the soles of my feet.” And in Job 14:14 he says, “all the days of my hard service I will wait till my change comes.” Whether he speaks about his grief or remains silent, there is no relief (Job 16:6). His heart yearns within him (Job 19:27) and he fasts, declaring that he has treasured the words of His mouth more than his necessary food (Job 23:12).

When he gets to the peak of despair seeing that his situation and trials don’t seem to have an end, he declares (Job 13:15), “Though He slays me, yet I will trust Him.” And that is because he knows that his life is not due to the food he eats but to the breath of the Almighty. “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (Job 33:4). He acknowledges that he came to the world naked and has nothing to take with him, and the Lord has blessed him with a prosperous earthly life, reason for which his heart is full of gratitude and is ready to accept adversity as the hardest test of his faith. “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10).

And finally, he declares he has been talking about things he didn’t understand, things too wonderful for him that he didn’t know. The Lord reveals Himself to him in all His grandeur and he abhors himself and repents in dust and ashes (Job 42:3-6).

My other friend with whom I have shared much is Solomon. He wrote two of the most beautiful books and one of the most practical – ones. Solomon had tried all the pleasures of life and he came to the sad conclusion that all was vanity in life. He knew that the eye never gets tired of seeing and the ear of hearing and that in many words there is sin. He knew that loving silver brought no satisfaction (Eccl. 5:10) and that man just worked to eat but his soul was not satisfied. (Eccl. 6:7).

He knew that repentance and awareness of one’s weakness brought a sad countenance, but still considered sorrow better than laughter (Eccl. 7:3). That is why he longed for wisdom so that his face might shine and the sternness of his face be changed (Eccl. 8:1). But he also knew that in much wisdom there was much grief (Eccl. 1:18) and in spite of it, he pleads the Lord to give him wisdom.

The very intense life he lived made him more aware of God’s love and forgiveness. “When sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” (Rom 5:20). And this knowledge of sin made out of him a big advisor of men through his proverbs, and gave him fear of the Lord and a longing for His coming. He wrote the most poetic love story in which, in full acknowledgement of God’s love to him, he says, “His banner over me was love.” (Songs of Solomon 2:4).

When he describes the love of Jesus for His church and of those who await for him with security, he declares, “My beloved is mine and I am his.” (Songs of Solomon 2:16). He thirsts for the Holy Spirit and calls Him with the most poetical verses (Songs of Solomon 4:16). When he falls into any act of self-righteousness after having been justified by faith, he remembers what he wrote in Eccl. 7:16. “Do not be overly righteous, nor be overly wise” or in Songs of Solomon, “I have taken off my robe, how can I put it on again?” (5:3).

He sleeps but his heart is awake waiting for his beloved to put his hand on the door and respond to the yearning of his heart. He knows that human love, with all its manifestations of tenderness is nothing but vanity. He asks the Lord, “Set me as a seal upon your heart.” (Songs 8:6).

These are many of the experiences I share with my friend based on the verse that says, whether two will walk together if they do not agree.

The other character that is very near to my heart is Paul. Paul was a big globe-trotter, he traveled much, he studied much, he spoke several languages, he had more than one passport, he loved writing missionary letters, he never forgot the people he had met in his life, and he carried every church in his heart that he had visited. People were not indifferent to him, he knew the price that had been paid for each soul. He understood that the path of obedience was narrow and one couldn’t follow it without suffering. Three times in the letter to the Hebrews he mentions how Jesus suffered to learn obedience. And to the Phillipians he explains how much humbleness is required to be obedient. He goes through hard discipline of his body to bring it into subjection, he knows he is justified by faith and that nothing can separate him from the love of God. He knew he had to be an example for his churches and that everything had to be done in love. He rebuked the churches many times, and asks the Galatians: “Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” He knows the flesh fights against the Holy Spirit and at the same time says to the Galatians, “My little children, for whom I labour in birth again till Christ is found in you.” (Gal. 4:19).

He felt a big responsibility for the church of Corinth knowing that its members were espistles of Christ ministered by him and his co-workers. They felt the need of being made sufficient by God to minister according to the Spirit and not to the flesh. (2 Cor. 3:2-6). He knew that the will of God is our sanctification (1 Thess. 4:3) and a thankful heart (1 Thess. 5:18). He understood the faith of the men who followed the Lord in the old times and realized that faith is dynamic and it has nothing to do with reality.

He suffered strong attacks from Satan and asked the Lord to deliver him, but he wouldn’t so as to keep him humble. (2 Cor. 12:7). Finally he writes to the church where he spent one and a half years, “I do not seek yours, but you for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.” (2 Cor. 12:14).

All Paul did was not to get anything for himself. All his concerns were not because he wanted acknowledgement or material things from the people of this church, but he wanted them. He wanted to gain them for Christ, he wanted their salvation, he felt as a father who provides for his children and does not expect his children to provide for him, and he confesses to them, “And I will gladly spend and be spent for your souls.” Paul did not fear self-sacrifice. His eyes were fixed on his Redeemer’s sacrifice for him, and nothing he could be asked to do for the souls the Lord had put under his care was too much. He knew love was sacrifice and was not understood by most people. And it was without bitterness that Paul declared to the Corinthians, “Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.” (2 Cor. 12:15). But his consolation is that nothing can separate him from the love of God. All his expectations were on the power of God’s love to save him and comfort him.

I am thankful to God for these books in the Bible, for the life history of these three characters which at different times have given me much consolation. And I will finish with a verse in 2 Cor. 2:3. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.”
AMEN.