Comfort

The Our Daily Bread notes one morning recently reminded me of an important truth about the word “comfort”. 

The story was about someone who emerged from an operation in a highly agitated state. This person had a breathing tube down his throat and his arms were restrained by the side of him in order to stop him pulling the vital tube out. With the stress of it all he was shaking and struggling. Then a nurse came and, to his surprise, held his hand. It was a gentle gesture which had a most powerful effect. The man calmed down straight away.

The word “comfort” is not just about soothing someone. It has more to do with empowering and strengthening them.

It reminded me of an illustration from the Bayeux Tapestry, the massive, 68-metre-long piece of embroidery that takes the viewer through the story of the Norman Conquest of England, culminating in the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066.

During that event, an unexplained fit of panic set in among the Norman knights, causing them to flee in disorder. The battle threatened to turn against the Normans. Then a Norman bishop, who had a club in his hand because he was not allowed to wield a spear, rode up and prodded some of the knights in the back, encouraging them to turn around, face the foe and attack again. It proved to be the turning point in the battle.

The caption above it literally reads, “Bishop Odo is ‘comforting’ his lads.” We plainly see that the original meaning of the word which we know as “comfort” is to encourage someone, to spur them on to new ventures.

The word “comfort” is used some 80 times in the Bible. Try reading it with its original meaning of “encourage” and see what picture it gives you. The apostle Paul keeps repeating it deliberately in his second letter to the Christians at Corinth:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 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. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 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. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-7 ESV, emphasis mine).

In the original language, this gives a picture of somebody coming alongside someone else (rather than riding up behind them!) and speaking to them words which will spur them on to take courage.

Jesus Christ wishes to encourage you to take heart and walk confidently through life with Him today. In turn, you may be able to encourage someone else who is struggling by telling them His story and giving them His message.