August 20, 2023 • Life for Leaders
Scripture — Isaiah 40:1-2 (NRSV)
Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
Focus
God continues to comfort us today in a variety of ways. When we take our worries to the Lord in prayer, God gives us the gift of supernatural peace. When we remember God’s faithfulness in the past, we are calmed in the present. Often God’s comfort comes through people who care for us, suffer with us, pray for us, and share God’s love with us in tangible ways.
Devotion
With occasional oases of hope, the first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah are a desert of divine judgment. But then, beginning with Isaiah 40, the tone changes. Though the Lord is still a God of justice and judgment, emphasis is placed on restoration and renewal. Thus, God calls Isaiah to bring a word of comfort for the Israelites: the days of punishment are over; the time of pardon has begun.
The Hebrew verb translated in Isaiah 40:1 as “comfort” (nacham) means “to console or calm down someone.” This same verb appears later in Isaiah as the Lord says: “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem” (66:13). For Judah, God’s comfort came especially in the good news of God’s new work of restoration.
God continues to comfort us today in a variety of ways. When we take our worries to the Lord in prayer, God gives us the gift of supernatural peace. When we remember God’s faithfulness in the past, we are calmed in the present. Often God’s comfort comes through people who care for us, suffer with us, pray for us, and share God’s love with us in tangible ways.
Thus, we have the chance, not only to receive divine comfort, but also to be instruments of this comfort to others. The comfort we bring, like that of God, doesn’t deny pain or pretend like everything is just fine. Rather, comfort from God is formed in the fire of suffering. It takes seriously the hard things in life, but offers the presence of friendship, the warmth of embrace, and the truth of hope.
Reflect
When have you experienced God’s comfort in the past?
Do you need God’s comfort today?
Who in your life needs to experience God’s comfort?
Are you willing to be a channel of God’s comfort in this person’s life? In the lives of others?
Act
If you know of someone who is going through a hard stretch, reach out to that person in love.
Pray
Gracious God, how I thank you for your comfort. I think of times in my life when I was consumed by worry. When I opened my heart to you, holding nothing back, you granted me your peace. I realized once again that my life was in your hands, and therefore had no cause for worry.
Even as you have comforted me, may I share your comfort with others. Help me to be sensitive to those around me, to feel their worry and distress. Keep me from superficial platitudes that often make things worse rather than better. By your Spirit, may I feel along with others, and, at the same time, be a channel of your loving truth. Amen.
Banner image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.
Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project’s online commentary. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Work’s Ultimate Meaning (Isaiah 60ff.).
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Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a Senior Strategist for Fuller’s Max De Pree Center for Leadership, where he focuses on the spiritual development and thriving of leaders. He is the principal writer of the daily devotional, Life for Leaders, and the founder of the De Pree Center’s Flourishing in the Third Third of Life Initiative. Previously, Mark was the Executive Director of the De Pree Center, the lead pastor of a church in Southern California, and the Senior Director of Laity Lodge in Texas. He has written eight books, dozens of articles, and over 2,500 devotions that help people discover the difference God makes in their daily life and leadership. With a Ph.D. in New Testament from Harvard, Mark teaches at Fuller Seminary, most recently in his D.Min. cohort on “Faith, Work, Economics, and Vocation.” Mark is married to Linda, a marriage and family counselor, spiritual director, and executive coach. Their two grown children are educators on the high school and college level.
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