THE WORD OF COMFORT

February 8

Psalms 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

These are some of David’s afflictions. He had to repent from his deception and of the murder of Bath-Sheba’s husband. He lost his first son. He was afflicted by a loathsome disease. His daughter was raped by one of his sons his son who in turn was murdered by Absalom, his other son. He fled Jerusalem in disgrace in front of this very very Absalom who led as coup against him. In the midst of all this, and without the help of modern psychology and mood-altering drugs, he kept the faith to run his kingdom and fight his surrounding enemies.

David protected the house of Israel against its enemies with the same integrity and courage as when he protected his father’s sheep against wild animals. He came to a time when he lost the innocent child-like faith he inherited from his father and indulged in disobedience. The consequential results of his actions drove him to the limits of his heart’s endurance. This ‘limit’, is where he found his God in a new and mature way. He had learned the age-old lesson, “when all you have left is God, you suddenly realize that God is enough”; and when all we’ve got left to stand on is the Word, we realize then that the Word is enough.

When he was discouraged and weary of the battle is when the prophet Elijah heard the small voice of the Lord was renewed (1 Kings 19:12-13). When after fasting for forty days and forty nights, Jesus, in His physically weakened state has a face-to-face confrontation with Satan, it is the Word that gave our Savior the strength to withstand the tempter (Mathewt 4:1-11).

Afflicted? Depressed? Sad? The same Word that “quickened” King David also “quickens” us. His Word is His gift. His gift is His power, His promise of strength and comfort.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.