Comforter to the Downcast
Are you feeling downcast? Or know someone who is? Contact an online mentor for a listening ear.
Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for February 20th, AM.
Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2009.
“God, who comforts the downcast …” 2 Corinthians 7:6
Who else comforts like Him? The sweetest promises and whispered words of comfort, coming from us, can fall upon deaf ears to someone who is truly poor, melancholy, and distressed. As much as we may try to comfort them, it may only be a note or two of mournful resignation that you get in reply. You will bring forth no psalms of praise, no hallelujahs, no joyful sonnets. But let God come to His child, let Him lift up their head, and the mourner’s eyes glisten with hope. “‘Tis paradise, if thou art here; If thou depart, ’tis hell?”
You could not have cheered them, but the Lord has done it. “God, who comforts the downcast …” Even when there is no comfort to be found in the world, there is comfort in God. There is no physician among the creatures, but the Creator is Jehovah-Rophe (“The LORD who Heals”). It is marvelous how one sweet word of God will become whole songs for Christians. One word of God is like a piece of gold, and the Christian is the metal-worker who can hammer that promise out for whole weeks.
So, then, there is no need for you to collapse in despair. Go to the Comforter, and ask Him to give you consolation. You are like a poor dry well. When a pump is dry, you must pour water down it first to prime it, and then you will get water. So too when you are dry, go to God, ask Him to pour His joy in your heart, and then your joy will be full. Don’t go to earthly friends, for you may find them to be like Job’s “comforters”. Instead, go first and foremost to your “God, who comforts the downcast …” and you will soon say, “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.” (Psalm 94:19)
Question: Where in your Bible do you most often turn when you’re seeking consolation?
About this Author: Charles Spurgeon
Tags: charles spurgeon, comfort, depression, Devotional, downcast, faith, fear, God, hope, Jesus, job, love, Men, promises, sadness
