The Comforts of God

Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, older than your father. Are the comforts of God too small for you, or the word that deals gently with you?
Job 15:10-11
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The Comforts of God
God gives to His people out of His “pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.” This should bring great comfort and joy to God’s people for we know that we don’t actually deserve anything good from God because of our sinful hearts.  All too often though we dismiss the comforts God has given us because they don’t meet our exact wishes. We want wealth and God provides material blessings but not as much as my neighbor, so we grumble against God.  We want to make a name for ourselves in our community and are angry when we don’t get it, at the same time forgetting God has placed His name on us in Baptism and made us His own child.  Our status is one of redeemed child of God, but that is too small for us. And despite all our ungrateful behavior God continues to provide for us all which we need. In our struggles against sin, death, and the devil, God shows us, “This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life” (Psalm 119:50).  As children of God, we turn to Him for everything, believing “that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that we may ask Him confidently with all assurance, as dear children ask their dear father.” And in this relationship our heavenly Father has given us we receive comfort.