ECCLESIASTES 4:1 – Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.

THEME OF THE DAY. DON’T BE A NO ONE. Did we catch it in today’s scripture? It is the repeated phrase “no one to comfort them.” On a side note, when reading our Bibles go slowly and look for repeated words, sentences and phrases. They will point us to an important theme, principle, warning, or command that demands greater attention. And today’s repeated phrase demands greater attention for two reasons. First, it serves as a means of spiritual self-examination of how spiritually healthy we really are. Secondly, it challenges us to live out the Christian life as God intends for His people. As we unfold this, one thing we must come to grips with is the seriousness of the statement no one to comfort them. It is a clear indictment of a person being selfish, self-absorbed, and lacking love for people. And what is even on a different level of seriousness is for this to be said of anyone professing to know the Lord Jesus. To make a profession of faith in the God who denied Himself, displayed the highest degree of personal sacrifice, and commands His people to the same commitments, yet lack those qualities in our lives reveals a profession of faith in Christ without the reality of Christ. Now, let’s dive in.

When pondering the phrase “no one to comfort them”, we must evaluate ourselves in our attitudes, approaches, and actions to those around us who need the comfort that only Christ offers through His people. Right now, are we actively obeying the Apostle Paul’s words in the opening statements of his second letter to the Corinthian church – 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 (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)? In our families, neighborhoods, and churches are we loving and caring for the hurting? Or would it be sadly said that we are one of the “no ones” who comfort? Get alone with the Lord and let Him search us in this area.

The other way we must approach the words “no one to comfort them” is to put aside our own understandings of the Christian life, our own preferences for the Christian life, and let the Bible define and direct our Christian lives. And God’s Word commands us to love, to love sacrificially, to love impartially, to love consistently, and to love people in word and deed (1 John 3:18). Perhaps what we need most in today’s church is the recovery of what the Bible says we are to be and not compromise by ignoring its clear commands of what we are to be – a people who minister comfort to hurting people in Jesus’ name.

PRAYER: “Lord, forgive when too many times I fail to minister to hurting people because I focus on my own hurts.”

QUOTE: “Love for God is the high mark of spiritual maturity and comforting hurting people testifies we are there.”