Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words | Comfort—it’s a word I like to hear. It has such a—well, reassuring sound to it, right? It’s also a Bible word. Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan says that the word “comfort” occurs in some form ten times in just five verses. That’s in 2 Corinthians chapter 2.

Let me give you a sample from that chapter. Verses 3 and 4 say, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles” That’s beautiful, isn’t it? Here to be comforted means to be strengthened or sustained, which is something we need so often in life.

“Comforter” is also a name given to the Holy Spirit, who is God Himself. The idea is more than just that He consoles us when we’re sad or upset. It has the idea of support or fortification. It is coming to the side of someone. Mr. Morgan goes on to say, “It is the great thought of underpinned, strengthened comradeship, being by the side of, upholding. That is the great word, the upholding power that comes from God.”[i]

It’s not a sign of weakness to admit you need God’s help. It would be foolish to try to get through the problems of life without Him. When life piles up on us, when we face grief and deep difficulty, we need to turn to the God who truly is our comforter. The Psalmist wrote, “When I said, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your love, O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul” (Psalm 94:18-19).

Many years before Christ was born, the prophet Isaiah said that God would be sending Christ to earth “to bind up the brokenhearted” (Isaiah 61:1). Do you need Him to bind up your broken heart today? He is the great Comforter who will come to your side and walk with you through difficult days.

[i] G. Campbell Morgan, The Corinthian Letters of Paul (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1946), 227.