Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.
Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God. Isaiah 40:1.
He surrounds you with lovingkindness and compassion. Psalm 103:4
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
I surround you with love and compassion. I am the God of all comfort and the Father of mercies. I am the one who cares for you and about you in every area of your life. I am there for you. I wipe every tear from your eyes. I store all your tears in My bottle. I see you. My loving eyes are always resting on you and following your every step. I have every hair on your head counted. You are precious in My sight and I love and honor you. I have raised you up from the ashes of your sins to seat you with the Prince of Peace at My right hand, in fact, He sits on My throne with Me, so I have seated you with Me in Him. I am very near to you; I am with you. And I comfort you in all your afflictions. Many are the afflictions of the righteous in this world, but I deliver them out of them all. And now, since Jesus has been glorified, I give you another Comforter, to be with you and in you forever, the Holy Spirit. You do not have to be one second, not even one pico-second, not even the twinkling of an eye, without comfort, lovingkindness, and compassion.
And today, as we continue My instructions on knowing Me by knowing My Name, we are on Life Lesson No. 6: The God of All Comfort and the Father of Mercies.
When Hagar ran in despair from her mistress Sarai, I comforted her and sent her back. I gave her good counsel of how to walk humbly with her mistress and not treat her with contempt and pride. And as she leaned on Me in her time of discouragement she found in Me a provider and everlasting rock. And what was her response? “Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God who sees.’” Genesis 16:13.
I saw the affliction of the Hebrew people in cruel bondage to the Egyptians, and when they cried out to Me, I immediately came down to rescue them and give them a new life of beauty and freedom with abundant provision. And I found Moses who went as My partner and friend to carry out My heart of compassion. I comfort you in all your affliction so that you, in turn, will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which you yourself were comforted by Me. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.
When Joseph turned to Me in slavery and imprisonment, I was with him and promoted him to a place of authority, freedom, abundance, goodness, and fame. He said he had found comfort and fruitfulness in his exile.
When Ruth and Naomi were alone and in need, I came with compassion and gave them a home and a family. I put Ruth, a Moabite woman, into the family line of Jesus according to the flesh. I took one outside My covenant into My covenant because she, by faith, took refuge under My wings. Ruth 2:12. I comforted her and Naomi and gave a partner to Boaz. I surrounded three lonely people with love and compassion.
When Manasseh was caught in the snare of his own rebellion and was taken captive to a foreign land, he turned to Me with heartfelt prayer and repentance in tears and deep despair and I came to comfort him and took him back and made him king again. I restored him in My lovingkindness and compassion. I comforted him in the great regret he had for all the evil he had done against Me. I am the Father of mercies. And then he knew I was God.
When you were dead in your sins and trespasses, and were a people outside My covenants of promise, without Me in the world, in My compassion I sent Jesus to take all your sins on Himself, all your pains and all your illnesses, and all your sorrows, and I surrounded you with love and compassion. You who had no mercy have received mercy. I am the God of all comfort and the Father of Mercies because that is who I am.
When you are sad and ridden with care I invite you to come to Me and let Me take care of you. You can lean on Me. I put My left hand under your head and embrace you with My right hand. I have espoused you to Me forever in faithfulness, love, and compassion. I want you to know Me as your lover and friend. Song of Songs 5:16.
Jesus, My arm of compassion, calls to you, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30. Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes. Isaiah 40:11. Jesus looked with compassion at the crowds who came to Him, for they were like sheep without a shepherd, and He healed them all. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so I have compassion on those who revere Me. For I Myself know your frame; I remember how you are formed; I know your bodies are but dust. Psalm 103:13-14. I have compassion on you.
The Bible is full of My Words to give you comfort and to reveal to you My compassion. I know how to sustain the weary one with a word. When you are feeling in need of compassion and comfort, ask Me to point you to the Scripture you need to sustain you at that moment. “This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your Word has revived me.” Psalm 119:50. And comfort one another with My Words, My promises. 1 Thessalonians 4:18.
The MOST comforting event in the Bible that will surround you with love and compassion and give you hope and life is the resurrection of Jesus. Without that your life would be without hope.
Think about the disciples who had left Him, denied Him, and even those who were faithful had watched Him die a cruel death, oh! How downcast they were, how without hope, how lost they felt. Look how sad the two were on the Road to Emmaus. And then suddenly the one they so loved and had left everything to follow stood among them in perfect wholeness, smiling gently and saying “Shalom,” all is well, all is peace between us, all is forgiven, all is blessed, and life is eternal. Death is not the end and wounds are not permanent and you will see loved ones again! And that turned their weeping, their sorrow, their mourning, their grief and shame, into perfect JOY. A joy NO ONE and nothing could take from them. Compassion means not just sympathizing with your weaknesses but making you strong and victorious. Compassion brings the solution to your desperation, grief and shame. Compassion makes you whole. I surround you with love and compassion. I am the God of all comfort and the Father of mercies. For you once were not a people, but now you are My people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:10.
I give you Jesus and He is the resurrection and the life. And that is comfort to you. When their brother Lazarus died, Martha and Mary were in deep sadness and grief over him. But Jesus came to comfort them. But He did not just weep with them, though He did weep with them, but He gave them back their brother and turned their mourning into glorious joy.
I know how to comfort you in all your trials in this life. I know how to turn your mourning into dancing. Just come into My everlasting arms. The arms of your God of all comfort, your Father of mercies.
The one who gave the Name “the God of all comfort” was My apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians. He knew Me by direct revelation. I even took him up to Heaven to see and know things that were beyond human words to describe. The New Testament was written in Greek, which though he was a Hebrew, the Corinthians were Greeks, so he wrote to them in Greek. And in Greek the word used in this passage that is translated “comfort” is the Greek word “paraklésis.” Does that sound familiar to you? Have you heard of the Paraclete? That is the word by which Jesus defined the character of the Holy Spirit. Paráklēsis is cognate with paráklētos (“legal advocate”) and thus has legal overtones. It means one who is coming to your aid at your side, a calling to one’s aid, i.e. encouragement, comfort, consolation, comfort. When you need someone to come by your side and encourage you to go forward, that is one who comforts you. And that is Me and those I send to you. Like Boaz to Ruth and the believers at Rome who came out to meet Paul when he arrived there as a prisoner.
Paul also called Me “the Father of mercies” coupled with the “God of all comfort.” The word there translated as “mercies” is the Greek word “oiktirmos,” which means compassion, pity. I am full of compassion for you. And it is plural there.
Jesus had compassion for the people for they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He is now at My right hand as your great High Priest ever making intercession for you. For you do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with your weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as you are, yet without sin. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. Jesus is My compassion reaction to all your needs in your life to make you whole, in Him you are made complete. His heart is open to you and shares with your pain by taking it away from you. He bore it in His own body so your body would be healthy and strong. And that is compassion to the uttermost.
Do you see Me as the one who comforts you? Who is compassionate towards you? And yet that is who I am. I revealed Myself to Moses when He asked to see My glory, which is My goodness, My presence and My power in your midst. I am Yahweh Elohim, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” Exodus 34:6-7.
I am compassionate and gracious, forgiving and comforting, healing and blessing, but I am perfectly just and righteous. I have great compassion for repentant hearts, hearts that I can work with and who turn from their wicked ways to goodness, like Manasseh, like David, like Mary Magdalene, like Paul, but for those of hardened hearts who refuse to stop their wicked deeds and continue to destroy others and My earth that I have given into your hands, there comes a point where there is no place of compassion. And it is a fearful thing to obstinately persist in that. For then you have joined the adversarial force of the devil and will go with your master to the place to which justice has condemned him. But in My compassion I have given you My Son so you may not perish but have eternal life. There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. The best thing you can do for yourself and others is lead them to salvation in Jesus so they can know the God of all comfort and the Father of mercies. I am there with arms stretched out and open for all of you, but you must come. Do not join them in Sodom and Gomorrah where the outcry was so great against them and I could not even find ten righteous people there. This is a fearful thing. Why would you want to join in wickedness? What reward is there in it? The wages of sin is death. And I have warned you of that from the beginning until now. There is no one I have not tried to speak to and save. And you who are reading this, I know you, you have listened and answered My call.
My lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for My compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is My faithfulness. I am your portion, therefore hope in Me. I AM good to those who wait for Me, to the one who seeks Me. Lamentations 3:23-24. I reward those who seek Me.
Call to Me while I am still near. Seek Me while I can be found. Today is the day of salvation. Do not put it off, the time is short.
I love you. I will always be there to be your comfort, your healer, your righteousness, your savior, your friend, your beloved, your counselor, your teacher, your provider, and, best of all, your Father. And that is the Name we will talk about in our next Life Lesson.