A Comfort That Lasts

Have you ever wondered what to say to those who have lost a loved one? May I suggest “A Comfort That Lasts”

Psalm 40:1-5 (NASB95)
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the LORD.
4 How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count.

INTRODUCTION:
Where is God when it hurts? That is a familiar, yet very personal, question that rises from the depths of our soul; into our minds; and sometimes those words escape and even leave our mouth.

Where is God when it hurts? It’s a good question that we can unpack in these few moments we have together. One thing that we can be very sure of is that God cares for us and in His care, He will provide all of us a Comfort That Lasts.

1. A Comfort That Comes At The Right Time—40:1
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me and heard my cry.

Death is a dark companion to the human experience. We do not like it; we seek to do everything we know to avoid it; and yet it comes with a vengeance with no respect to person. It plays no favorites; and it never plays fair.

Death is like a pit of destruction. It swallows us and the people we love. And if we allow it, the very shadow of death will depress us and pull us down into the pit too.

And yet, as believers in the Risen Lord Jesus, we can have a unique perspective that the unbeliever cannot grasp: WE WIN

1 Corinthians 15:51-58 (NASB95)
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.
55 "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?"
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;
57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

Note the testimony of David, the Psalmist of Psalm 40: He waited patiently for the Lord.

He trusted in the character of God; that God is good and that God loves him. Even while finding himself in the most difficult of circumstances, the Psalmist waited patiently for the Lord…to deliver him.

He believed in his heart that God cared for him; and then one day, it happened!

God inclined His ear to the Psalmist and heard the cry of his child.

God knows where we are today. God hears the cry of our heart. God will transport us from the pit.

The comfort that lasts will come in the right time—and God is never late, never.

2. A Comfort That Comes In The Right Way—40:2-3
2 He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the LORD.

The comfort we need is not earned by having enough human strength to muster it up.

The comfort we need is not gained by denying the reality of our circumstances

The comfort we need is GRACE-DRIVEN. That simply means that God is on a mission to engage us and help us do something we can never do on our own.

Listen to this example of being GRACE-DRIVEN:

It is God who brings us up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay.

It is God who sets our feet upon a rock making our footsteps firm.

It is God who puts a new song in our mouth, a song of praise to our God.

It is God who will use our difficult circumstances to help others who are watching us and who place their trust in the Lord.

Grace says that God never wastes anything in our life—even the most difficult of things.

Romans 8:28 (NASB95)
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

The comfort that lasts will come in the right way—by the GRACE of God.

3. A Comfort That Comes From The Right Source—40:4
4 How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.

The Psalmist testifies about his own life. He claims that we are blessed when we make the Lord our trust.

For the believer, it comes down to trust. Do we trust Him only when our circumstances are easy and most desirable or do we trust Him even when life is most difficult?

In other words, how real, how authentic is our faith? Is our faith experience best described as a “Churchianity” or a biblical “Christianity”? Do we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ or do we just know about Him? How we come to grips with these questions will make all the difference in this world . . . and in the next.

What does it mean to trust the Lord? It means we accept His free gift of eternal life that came by His death and sacrifice on the Cross. We believe that “Jesus paid it all.” We believe that His grace is sufficient always. We believe that we can do exactly what the writer of Proverbs said:

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB95)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

The comfort that lasts comes from the right source—our trust in the Lord.


4. A Comfort That Comes At The Right Time, In The Right Way, and From The Right Source is a Comfort That Will Last—40:5

5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count.

It has been granted to the believer the challenge to try and count the blessings that God has bestowed upon us.

Quickly we run out of fingers and toes. We can never grasp how much God loves us.

The Psalmist was enamored with his God. He was in awe of not only what God has done, but was just as impressed by all of the thoughts that God was thinking about him.

Can you even fathom this: God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth; the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe makes time to think of me and makes time to think of you.

Would you close your eyes or at least focus your attention and try to picture the colorful images that King David is painting in your mind with these precious words.

Psalm 139:1-18 (NASB95)
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.
3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.
5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,"
12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.

This is God’s wonderful promise to His children today:

He has given us a Comfort That Lasts

God knows us. God loves us. And God has a place for us when He calls us home to live with Him forever.

Psalm 23:1-6 (NASB95)
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.