My voice to God—let me cry out. My voice to God—and hearken to me. In the day of my straits I sought the Master. My eye flows at night, it will not stop. I refused to be consoled. Psalm 77:2-3 (Hebrew Bible) Robert Alter Refused – “You’ll feel better in the morning.” “This too will…
Reproach breaks my heart, I grow ill: I hope for consolation, and there is none, and for comforters, and do not find them. Psalm 69:21 [Hebrew Bible] Robert Alter Consolation – Look at this verse in two other translations (verse 20 in English Bibles): Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked…
With my many cares within me, Your consolations delighted me. Psalm 94:19 Robert Alter Many cares – Aretha Franklin’s rendition of “God Will Take Care of You” is found on the best selling Gospel album of all time. It’s powerful and worth listening to (CLICK HERE). Since music is such an emotional experience, perhaps we…
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:4 NIV So that – It’s just a tiny word, eis, a little conjunctive. Note Oepke’s comment: “Originally spatial, this word takes on theological significance in the NT.”[1] This is…
“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8 NIV Woman’s Day Leave you nor forsake you – Feeling discouraged today? Some persistent problems? Some new stress? The usual ups and downs of life? I…
yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you—since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus Philemon 1:9 NASB Appeal – You know this Greek word. You just don’t know it in this context. The word is parakaléō, usually associated with the Christian idea of the Holy Spirit. What it really…
When He killed them, then they sought Him, and they returned and searched diligently for God; Psalm 78:34 NASB Sought – When do you seek God? Well, when do most people seek God? When things are bad. When we want a God-genie to fix things. When we’re suffering. The rest of the time, God is sort of…
“As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.” Isaiah 66:13 NASB Comfort– The needs of the world press upon us. Who will answer? You and I, of course. We who have been blessed must respond to the great agony of life, the teeming masses whose worlds are confined to…
For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother. Philemon 1:7 NASB Joy and comfort – We return to the Greek term chará in Paul’s letter to Philemon. Now we are equipped with a broader appreciation for the Hebraic background of Paul’s Greek. Paul attaches joy to comfort. …
“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God. Isaiah 40:1 NASB Comfort – “They will lick the dust like a serpent, like reptiles of the earth. They will come trembling out of their fortresses; to the Lord our God they will come in dread and they will be afraid before You” (Micah 7:17). The God…
