Advent

Comfort, comfort ye My people,
Speak ye peace, thus saith our God;
Comfort those who sit in darkness,
Mourning ’neath their sorrow’s load;
Speak ye to Jerusalem
Of the peace that waits for them;
Tell her that her sins I cover,
And her warfare now is over.

This hymn was written by Johann Olearius in the 17 th centuary from the words of Isaiah the prophet in the Old Testament (Isaiah 40:1-2). Isaiah started his prophesies by spelling gloom and doom to all the people of Israel and neighbors. But half way through started to speak of the coming of the Messiah which occurred 500 years later. He spoke of comfort to the people of Israel. Comfort to a people who after years in exile will return to their home country to rebuild their homes and their lives.

Isaiah is full of verses that provide us with comfort Isaiah 40:31. Isaiah assures us that if we wait patiently on the Lord He will strengthen us. As a prophet Isaiah could see of a day when the Messiah would come to save the Nation of Israel.

While reflecting on the words of comfort I received an email from a friend who directed me to work being done by a Jewish group called Nechama. Nechama is the Hebrew word for comfort. They are a community response team who go to places to lend a helping hand and clean up after a natural disaster occurred. They sometimes get down to doing menial tasks and get very dirty to get the job done. Through their acts of goodness they bring comfort to the lives of those who were hurting from a disaster. To those whose hopes have been shattered they bring new rays of hope. The title of the article said that the volunteers saw themselves as partners with God to make the world a better place.

At the time of advent we share the story of Christ coming as a baby to us. A fragile baby born to a couple who were living under very poor circumstances. Not into royalty but to the family of a poor carpenter was the Son of God born. Not in the grandeur of a palace as Herod and the rest of the world expected, but humbly in a lowly manger.

Advent is a season when we remember the darkness that the world was living in. It was a time when people were grappling with who God was ? It was a time when the children of Israel were under the Roman rule. Even today we all go through darkness and wilderness days. We have financial burdens, loss of loved ones, and health problems. We all have parts of our lives under a shadow. Why does God say comfort ye my people? God wants to see the people who have lost their way to find their way back. He wants the people who have lost hope to find hope. How many of us have reached a point of desperation and longed for comforting words from a friend or family member? How many of us really make an effort to meet people after a church service? Do we really know the people who sit with us in the pew? Some people have a greater attachment to the pew seat and feel more offended when some other member of the church was to occupy their seat.

The season of advent is also a time of preparation. A time when we look at our lives to see if we are living lives that is pleasing to God. It is a time when we as the children of the light keep our faith alive by reaching out to those who are in darkness. Sometimes looks can be deceiving and the person who looks perfectly in control may be in desperate need of comfort and assurance of Gods love. It is a time when we get ourselves ready for the coming of Christ into our lives.


Let us always remember that God has provides for all our needs, comforts and strengthens us through His Word, fellowship with other believers and the assurance of His Holy Spirit who is always with us and in us.

Christ wants us to be filled with hope and tell everyone of the assurance that He will not leave us comfortless, He will come to us. John 14:18 This is the assurance that Jesus gave his disciples before he was crucified. He said he would never abandon them or leave them as orphans. He assured them that He would come to them as the Holy Spirit and rest and abide in them (John 14:26), and enable them to do even greater things than He himself did (John 14:12).