How can we be comforted?

“See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is only death.  …  The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading” (Lamentations 1:20; 2:14).

We like to be encouraged and comforted by others when we are going through hardship and thus our heart is heavy.  When we are suffering and thus are in bitter anguish and sadness, we need to be comforted.  But there is no one to comfort us.  What should we do?  We do not have to be discouraged.  The reason is because there is the Comforter Holy Spirit in us who can truly comforts us in times of need.  How does the Spirit comfort us?

When we look at the context of the today’s passages, Lamentations 1:20 and 2:14, we can see that the Israelites were in misery (distress) while they were in captivity in Babylonia.  All the splendor had departed from Israel (v.6) and they were humiliated by the Babylonians (vv. 1, 9).  They wept and their eyes overflow with tears (vv. 2, 16).  Their friends betrayed them (v.2) and affliction and persecution came upon them (vv. 3, 7).   There was groaning, grief and suffering (vv. 4, 5, 12, 18) and the Israelites were fainted (vv. 13, 22).  Moreover, their enemies looked at them and laughed at their destruction (v.7) and they despised the Israelites (v.8).  As a result, the Israelites couldn’t find any resting place (v.3).  And they lost their strength (v.14) and got weak (v.6).  But there was no one to help them (v.7).  Moreover, there was no one to comfort them (vv. 2, 9, 16, 21).  Rather, they had false prophets who saw the false and worthless visions and gave the Israelites the oracles that were false and misleading (2:14).  They prophesized to the Israelites “Peace, peace” (Jer. 8:11) where there was no peace.  You see, the Israelites listened to the false prophet’s false prophecy of “Peace, peace” instead of listening to the true prophet Jeremiah prophesying God’s imminent punishment through the Babylonians due to their sins (Lam. 1:22).  As a result, the Israelites were sent off to the Babylonia as captive and they were in distress.  How could they receive comfort?  The Israelites were in distress because of their sins.  Thus, in order for them to receive comfort from God, their sins had to be dealt first.  And when their problem of sin was being dealt with, then their relationship with God would be restored.  Moreover, they would be restored to Jerusalem.  As a result, they would be comforted because of God’s gracious work of restoration.

In order for us to be comforted by God, our relationship with Him must be restored first.  And in order to do that, our sin has to be dealt with first.  I wonder how the Spirit comforts us.  I thought about it in four ways: (1) First, the Holy Spirit exposes our sins (2:14).  In other words, the Spirit rebuke our sins with His Word.  (2) Second, the Holy Spirit enables us to confess our sin to God.  The Spirit makes us to acknowledge our sin to God (Ps. 32:3).  (3) Third, the Holy Spirit enables us to repent our sin and return to God.  Without the work of the Spirit, we cannot repent our sin.  (4) Fourth, the Holy Spirit frees us from our captivity and pour out the blessing of restoration.  As the Holy Spirit does so, we will be truly comforted.  May this blessing be upon you!

Trusting the Holy Spirit’s comforting working is us,

James Kim