February 2

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

Everyone knows how a mother comforts her child. She doesn’t do it with words as much as with the tenderness of her love.

In times of deep sorrow, we don’t want explanations or even Scripture verses; we simply want to rest in the quiet comfort of love. Jesus placed comfort among the Beatitudes: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." There must be something so precious and valuable in comfort that it makes sorrow worth enduring.

We sometimes think we’re comforting others when we sit beside them in their grief and sympathize, but if we don’t lift them up, we aren’t truly comforting them. To comfort someone is to strengthen them.

True comfort comes when we help people become stronger, enabling them to endure and rise above their sorrows. This is how Christ comforts. He sympathizes with us, but He also strengthens us to persevere.