108. Comfort, Joy, Gladness
Isaiah 51:3 For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
Comfort is a common promise in the Scriptures. God is a God of Comfort; He promises to comfort us in all our afflictions. By the way, He also threatens to afflict the comfortable, that is, when we become too comfortable with our situation and begin to feel like we are OK in the world as it is. Then God gives the Law to convict us of Sin and lead us to repentance and faith in the Gospel. Comfortable means complacent: “I’m OK. I’m a good guy; I’m not that bad. I never intentionally hurt anybody.” After, and while, God afflicts the comfortable, He comforts the afflicted. God does not need to directly afflict us with troubles. Each day of life in this world has enough trouble of its own. But the Lord does need to convince us that it is our own sin and fault. That is why I have so much trouble. It’s Sin’s fault, but I am the Sinner. Then the Gospel comforts with forgiveness and life.
The Lord shall comfort His people, the Church. He will comfort all the waste places and wilderness areas of the heart. The waste places in the heart shall become like Eden and like the garden of the Lord. He promises joy and gladness to replace the emptiness and depression in the heart when we receive the Gospel with faith. Along with comfort come joy and gladness, thanksgiving and song. The heart is refreshed and renewed, and the response is thanks and praise, often expressed in song and melody in the heart. It is the Gospel that elicits such a response. It is the Gospel that comforts; it is the Gospel that brings joy and gladness; it is the Gospel that causes thanksgiving and song. When we rejoice with thanks and praise, sin and evil cannot reside in the same place nor exert devastating control of the heart. This is true comfort. Neither the world, nor other people, nor even our own self can give such a comfort that refreshes and changes the heart. And furthermore, no one but our own self-will can take away or diminish the Comfort of the Lord. Jesus is our Eternal Comfort, and we need His Comfort every day.