Comforted to Comfort

“The God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” — 2 Cor. i. 3, 4 (R. v.).

Child of God, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which tries thee, as though some strange thing had happened. Rejoice insomuch as it is a sure sign that thou art on the right track. In an unknown country, a man tells me that I shall pres- 71 ently pass over a stony bit of road on my way to my abiding-place, and when I come to it, each jolt tells me that I am right. So when a child of God passes through affliction, he is not surprised, but satisfied. He knows that he is right for the gate of pearl, for it is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom. Thine afflictions cannot he few.

Look up. There is thy Father, pure and holy. Thou art to be like Him. But ere thou canst be, thou wilt need the file of the lapidary, tho heat of the crucible, the bruising of the flail — not to win thy heaven, but to destroy thine unheavenliness. The spirits gathered there, clad in lustrous white, tell thee that the brilliance of their reward has been in the measure of the vehemence of their sorrows. Be sure, then, that thy Father will put within thy reach a brighter 73 crown, by putting tfiee within the reach of severe affliction.

Look down, Thinkest thou that the prince of hell was pleased, when thou didst forsake him for thy new Master, Christ? Verily not! At the moment of thy conversion thy name was put on the proscribed list, and all the powers of darkness pledged themselves to obstruct thy way. What wonder if affliction comes to thee, as it came to Job, by the permission of heaven, from hell I

Looh around. Thou art still in ths world that crucified thy Lord, and would do the same again, if He were again to live amidst it. It cannot love thee. It will call thee Beelzebub. It will cast thee out of its synagogue. It will think it a religious act to kill thee. In the world thou «halt have afflictions, though in the

73 midst of them thou mayest be of good cheer.

Look within. What hast thou here but an evil heart, ever chafing against the rule and will of God; froward, restless, wilful. And in the constant strife between thy will and God’swill, what can there be but affliction? This human life is the college of affliction, whither even the King’s son came that He might be a faithful High Priest.

For such as thou art, afflicted one, there is no literature so befitting as the Bible, and in the Bible no part more helpful than this epistle. Hope is the keynote of the epistle to the Thessalonians, joy of that to the Philippians, faith of that to the Romans, heavenly things of that to the Ephesians, affliction of this. It was written amid afflictions so great, that the Apostle despaired of life. .?4

It is steeped in affliction, as a handherchief with the flowing blood of a fresh wound. But in this passage, the Apostle has built for himself a little chamber of comfort, on the wall of affliction. Its stones are quarried from the pit of his own sorrow. In it he sits and sings, “Blessed be God;” and into it he bids thee come till thine affliction be past, and thy sky is clear again. It is the chamber of comfort.

When in affliction, mind three things — Look out for comfort; store up comfort; pass on the comfort you get.

(1) Look out for Comfort. It will come certainly. Wherever the nettle grows there grows the dock leaf, and wherever there is a trial, there is, somewhere at hand, a sufficient store of comfort, though our eyes, like Hagar’s, are often

75 holden that we do not see it. But it is as sure as the faithfulness of God.

It will come proportionately, God holds a pair of scales. This on the right side called AS, is for thine afflictions; this on the left called SO, is for thy comforts. And the beam is always level. The more thy trial, the more thy comfort. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth through Christ.

It will come divinely. It is well when meeting a friend at the station, to know by what route to expect him, lest he come in on one platform, while we are awaiting him on another. It is equally good to know in what quarter to look for comfort. Shall we look to the hills? No, for sn vain is salvation looked for from tho hills. Shall we look to man? J^o for Job found the best men of 76 his time to be miserable comforters. Shall we look to angels? No, God entrusts angels to fulfill many ministries for us, but never to comfort. This needs a gentler touch than theirs. God dare not entrust it to Gabriel. He comforteth those that are cast down. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

It will come mediately. Our consolation aboundeth through Christ. “When a bridegroom makes a present to his wife, he puts it in the rarest casket, and sends it by her choicest friend. And when our God comforts us. He adds to the exquisite beauty of His comfort by sending it through the Son of His love.

It will come directly through the Holy Ghost, that other Comforter, whom the Saviour gives, and who 77 gives us Him, and in giving us Him gives us all.

It will come variously sometimes by the coming of a beloved Titus, a bouquet, a letter, a message, or a card; sometimes by a promise, laying an ice-cold cloth on our fevered brows; sometimes by God simply coming near. In sore sorrow, He comforts best who says least, and who simply draws near, and takes the sufferer’s hand, and is silent in his sympathizing love. It is so that God comforts. Thou drewest near in the day of mine afQiction, Thou saidst, It is I, be not afraid.

II. Store up Comfort. The world is full of comfortless hearts; orphan children crying in the night. Our God pities them, and would comfort them through thee. But ere thou art sufficient for this lofty ministry, thou must be trained. And 78 that He may train thee perfectly, He puts thee through the very same afflictions which are wringing human hearts with aching sorrow. He makes thus for Himself an opportunity of comforting thee, and of so teaching thee the divine art of comfort. Watch narrowly how He does it. Keep a diary if thou wilt, and note down all the procedure of His skill. Ponder in thine heart the length of each splint, the folds of each bandage, the ministration of each opiate or cordial or drug. This will bring a twofold blessing. It will turn thy thoughts from thy miseries to thine outnumbering mercies; and it will take from thee that sense of useless and aimless existence, which is often the sufferer’s weariest cross.

Dost thou wonder why thou dost suffer some special form of sorrow?

Wait, till ten years are past. I warrant thee, that in that time thou wilt find some, perhaps ten, afflicted as thou art. When thou tellest them how thou hast suffered, and how thou hast been comforted; whilst thou unfoldest thy tale, and seekest to repeat on them the magic spells that have charmed away thy griefs; in their glistening eyes and comforted looks, thou wilt learn why thou hast been afflicted, and thou wilt bless God that thou wert able to comfort others with the comfort wherewith thou thyself hadst been comforted of God. Once more, then, remember to store up an accurate remembrance of the way in which God comforts thee.

III. Pass on the Comfort you

Receive. — At a railway station a

benevolent man found a school-boy

crying, because he had not quite

mi enough to pay his fare; and he remembered, suddenly, how, years before, he had been in the same plight, but had been helped by an unknown friend, and had been enjoined that some day he should pass that kindness on. Now he saw that the long-expected moment had come. He took the weeping boy aside, told him his story, paid his fare, and asked him, in his turn, to pass the kindness on. And as the train moved from the station, the lad cried cheerily: “I will pass it on, sir;” so the act of thoughtful love is being passed on through our world, nor will it stay till its ripples have belted the globe and met again.

“Go thou and do likewise.” Is thy heart comforted? Then be on the alert to comfort those who are in any trouble. Thou canst not miss them; they are not scarce. Thine 6 gf own sad past will make thee quick to detect them, where others might miss them. If thou findest them not, seek them; the wounded heart goes alone to die. Sorrow shuns society. Thou shouldest constantly seek from the Man of Sorrows Himself, directions as to where the sorrowing bide. He knows their haunts, from which they have cried to Him. And when thou comest where they are, do for them as the Good Samaritan did for thee, when He bound up thy wounds, pouring in oil and wine. Comfort them with the comfort wherewith thou thyself hast been comforted of God.