Comfort in the Shaking

Life is like a snow globe.

Sometimes it’s nice just sitting on a shelf feeling pretty…everything’s going A-Okay.

And then somebody comes along and gives you a good shake.

For a moment the whole world seems to be crashing down around you and then you are placed back on the shelf and everyone watches in awe.

It’s even more beautiful than before.

There’s comfort in the shaking…

A few nights ago I lay down in bed and prayed for comfort.

Immediately 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 popped into my mind:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

And then I started pouting like the baby in the family that I am:

“That comfort is just so I can comfort others…I want comfort that’s only for me. My comfort, that I don’t have to share.” Me, my, mine.

So I fell asleep in my self-pity.

Of course, the next morning this same verse came up on the radio. The host followed it with this question as a math problem:

If you have 15 parts of comfort and you give 5 away, how many parts of comfort do you have left?

Answer: 15.

I know this is true but it’s that old battle of flesh against Spirit that takes me back to spoiled brat mode.

This wasn’t the last time I heard that verse that week…it came up in our Life Group lesson at church as well. The Holy Spirit was just hammering it in, and I got the message.

Christ comforts us so we can comfort others, and this in return makes us feel the comfort of Christ all over again.

Shake the snow globe…let the comfort be shared.

The hard part is that the shaking is assured:

The Bible says we WILL have affliction if we’re following Christ.

…In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

And we can be overcomers with Him.

4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith (1 John 5:4).

Faith, tested through trials, leads to completion. It is a beautiful thing, and there’s comfort in that.

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4).

So if you feel your world being shaken and you think it’s all going to smash to the floor in a wet mess of broken glass, and clay, and lackluster sparkles, DO NOT FEAR:

God will not be shaken.

Psalm 62
For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
2
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
3
How long will all of you attack a man
to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4
They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse. Selah
5
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
6
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
8
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
9
Those of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.
10
Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
11
Once God has spoken;
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
12
and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
according to his work.

Grace and peace…even in the shaking.