Comfort And Trust
Wednesday December 17, 2014
Comfort and trust -- how do these two go together in my life and what does "Immanuel" have to do with that?
Jesus willingly came from heaven to earth to complete God’s plan of salvation. He left the comfort and completeness of a relationship with His Father so He could come close to us and show us what our Heavenly Father is really like. Within the care and comfort and unfailing love of His Father for Him, Jesus conveyed to us through His life and death how much God loves us. We are told to love others as God loves us and to develop sound and trusting relationships in our circle of family and friends.
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” .... But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. (From Luke 1:26-28,l 30-32a NIV)
Jesus is God's answer to our loneliness and pain. In Jesus, God has come close to us. Through Jesus we see God's plan and provision for enabling caring relationships with one another. We don't need to live in fear and isolation. God wants to deal with our fear and show favour to us. How? God Himself will come close to us, even live in us as our Saviour and our friend. That's the meaning of his name, Immanuel, “God with us”.
On our own we struggle to live well in trusting relationship with God and others. As we put our trust in Jesus, we will have everything we need. God is a comforting God who is always with us no matter what challenges we have to face. Sometimes God gives us immediate deliverance from painful situations. Sometimes He walks with us as we work through the problems that seemingly won’t let go. Our pain may be a direct consequence of the mistakes we have made in the past or it may be the result of someone else's failure. It may even be a product of life itself. Whatever the source of the pain, when we place our trust in Jesus, we receive his peace and blessing. God sees. God cares. God knows. God delivers. Call on Him in your day of trouble for He will answer you.
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