March 14

Tender Comfort

As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem. — Isa 66:13 BSB

A mother’s comfort! Ah, this is tenderness itself. How she enters into her child’s grief! How she holds him close and tries to take all his sorrow into her own heart! He can tell her everything, and she will sympathize like no one else can. Of all comforters, a child loves his mother best, and even grown men have found this to be true.

Does Jehovah truly condescend to act like a mother to us? This is goodness indeed. We readily understand how He is like a father, but will He be like a mother too? Doesn’t this invite us to holy closeness, to unreserved confidence, and to peaceful rest? When God Himself becomes “the Comforter,” no sorrow can last long. Let us pour out our troubles to Him, even if sobs and sighs are all we can manage. He won’t despise us for our tears—our mothers didn’t. He will understand our weakness as she did, and He will remove our faults in a much safer and surer way than our mothers could. We shouldn’t try to bear our grief alone—that would be unkind to One so gentle and kind. Let us start the day with our loving God, and why shouldn’t we end it in the same company, since mothers never tire of their children?