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Have you ever heard the book of Isaiah referred to as a Bible within the Bible? Well, it is an interesting comparison to say the least. We will begin this mini-series on Comfort in Isaiah by taking a brief look at the features which have prompted some to allude to Isaiah, the grand book of Messianic prophecies, as a Bible within the Bible.

The Bible has sixty-six books that are divided as follows: the first thirty-nine books comprise the Old Testament and the last twenty-seven books are referred to as the New Testament. The Old Testament is principally about the nation of Israel…  ( Click for more )

It is almost a sure bet that you have looked for emotional comfort at one time or another. It sometimes comes in the form of an encouraging word from a friend, or perhaps just a sympathetic ear from a loved one. Many times, just having someone listen to our troubles is enough to lighten our load and make the day seem brighter. However, have you ever sought for comfort and could find none? There is no lonelier feeling on earth than to realize that no one stands with you; you are alone in your plight and there is no human help to be had from any quarter.

The author of the sixty-ninth…  ( Click for more )

Puffery is the noun form of puffing. Puffery is extremely common in retail advertising. It is an entirely subjective and exaggerated claim about a product or a service. It is worded so that no right thinking person would take the claim literally. In the paragraph that follows I will list a few familiar claims for you to read. In each of these claims, I will leave our a word or two for you to fill in. Among the puffery that is involved there will also be one true, but incredible claim. See if you can fill in the blanks, and at the same time, spot the claim that is not puffery.

“When…  ( Click for more )

Have you ever stopped to think that our entire lives are spent seeking comfort? It must be an important and innate instinct with which we are born and which stays with us until death. Today's continuance of devotional thoughts on comfort will begin a look at the Psalms and how they relate to comfort generally.

Although I may not know you personally, I would almost wager that as an infant you cried when you were hungry and also let it be known in a similar way when you were wet! Why? Because there was a need for comfort that was a part of your being even at that early age. A favorite…  ( Click for more )

Have you ever stopped to think that our entire lives are spent seeking comfort? It must be an important and innate instinct with which we are born and which stays with us until death. Today's continuance of devotional thoughts on comfort will begin a look at the Psalms and how they relate to comfort generally.

Although I may not know you personally, I would almost wager that as an infant you cried when you were hungry and also let it be known in a similar way when you were wet! Why? Because there was a need for comfort that was a part of your being even at that early age. A favorite…  ( Click for more )

Just how perfunctory can I be and still keep your attention? I don't know, probably will never know, but pray that you will indulge me in my perfunctoriness as I introduce today's devotional. The series is the God of All Comfort taken from 2 Corinthians 1.3. The sub-set has been the seven Penitential Psalms (6,32,38,51,102,130, and 143). Today, we look at the last of these seven Psalms. It is such a poignantly piercing piece of literature that I quote it in its entirety.

Hear my prayer, O LORD, Give ear to my supplications! In Your faithfulness answer me, And in Your righteousness.…  ( Click for more )

When abundance is categorized, it is usually placed in the blessings column in lieu of the curses column. But that is not always the case as we will see in today's devotional.

Have you ever tasted something that was absolutely so delicious that you just couldn't stop eating it? Well I did the first time I ate one of Aunt Ethel's fried apple pies. I was about nine or ten years old at the time and to my knowledge, I had never had a fried pie, especially not one of aunt Ethel's. She was an old fashioned southern cook who set a table fit for a king at almost every meal. It was supper…  ( Click for more )

Loneliness bites the soul like frost degrades and scars the flesh. It is insidious in that it usually comes so gradually that it is unnoticed. Without warning, changes in our lives can be so subtle as to be unnoticed for the moment, but literally wreak havoc over the long haul. As a nation, Israel had gradually drifted away from the source of all real comfort, the Lord God Almighty. Like we do as individuals at times, they were suffering from extreme loneliness in a crowded world! Nothing can be worse than acute loneliness; cries that originate in the lonely heart are cries that indelibly…  ( Click for more )

I live in the southeastern United States of America. As many regions do, we Southerners have certain characteristics that are attributed to us; some are legitimate while others are founded on biases or stereotypes. A few years ago a friend and I were driving around the countryside where we encountered a gentleman who reminds me of these facts. Today's message discusses that encounter.

In the neatly trimmed yard there were a number of trees that had obviously been planted and cared for regularly. However, there was something that stood out about the trees even more than their beauty;…  ( Click for more )

I wish that I could truly say that I perpetually hate sin in every form. However, I would be lying to make such a claim. If stated honestly, I find that the sins that I hate all the time are sins that I have no disposition to commit!

Sins that are a temptation to me are not truly hated all the time; sometimes they seem an attractive shortcut to pleasure and feelings of well being. Among such sins are unwarranted anger, the withholding of good from those that I find unsavory, and frequently knowing what is good and simply refusing to take that path. I find that I can justify these…  ( Click for more )

Like the man I saw in the grocery store yesterday who apparently skipped a treatment of hair coloring, I know that after this introduction, my roots will be showing. As a younger man in the late sixties, I used to enjoy a CBS TV show called Hee Haw. It was a country variety show with an oversized emphasis on corn pone, corn liquor, and just pure corn! One of the regular items on the show featured the singing of a customized weekly song called Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me. If you're too young to remember it, check it out on You Tube; if you remember it, that's all it will take to…  ( Click for more )

The second of the Penitential Psalms (Songs of Penitence) contains more poignant truths that relate to mercy, forgiveness, and comfort. Our devotional today will center on only a few selected phrases from this Psalm, but it will emphasize some essentials of godly comfort. [Note; Yesterday's article mistakenly stated that there are six penitential Psalms; it should have read seven, not six.]

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept…  ( Click for more )

There are six Penitential Psalms (Songs of Penitence) in the Bible. Each of them conveys a unique and poignant point about the process of penitence and the comfort that can derive from it. Our study of comfort would be incomplete without an overview of the relationship between penitence and the comfort that is offered in these six wonderful bits of inspired literature. For purposes of the six articles that follow, the bold print portion of each passage contains the point of focus for that article and is purely arbitrary on this writer's part.

“O LORD, do not rebuke me in…  ( Click for more )

There are six Penitential Psalms (Songs of Penitence) in the Bible. Each of them conveys a unique and poignant point about the process of penitence and the comfort that can derive from it. Our study of comfort would be incomplete without an overview of the relationship between penitence and the comfort that is offered in these six wonderful bits of inspired literature. For purposes of the six articles that follow, the bold print portion of each passage contains the point of focus for that article and is purely arbitrary on this writer's part.

“O LORD, do not rebuke me in…  ( Click for more )

Of course you have heard the age-old conundrum, “Which came first; the chicken or the egg?” It has been the subject of many a heated debate. Did you ever stop to question why this puzzle is so difficult to answer? Have you ever seriously considered the implications of the fact that this enigma has survived over the years and still captivates the minds of many? Well, if I may, I’d like to take a crack at this one (pun intended!).

First, please observe that as the question is posed, there are only two answers from which one is allowed to choose. If there is a third…  ( Click for more )

Sorrow and pain were not part of God's original plan for man; these two negative realities came about as a result of sin. To the guilty woman He said, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” (Genesis 3.16). To the guilty man He said, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your…  ( Click for more )

There are a great many parallels between Joseph of the Old Testament and Jesus of the New. The complete story of Joseph can be read in Genesis 37-50. Of course the life of Christ is told in what we call the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Today’s message will elaborate on some of the parallels between these two great biblical characters.

· They were both servants

· They both returned good for evil

· Both resisted the strongest of temptations

· They were both loved dearly by their father

· They were both sold…  ( Click for more )

The Lord Will Provide! God is the great provider of all that we need. When the storm clouds seem the darkest, He sticks closest to our side. The reading which appears in the following paragraphs is taken directly from Genesis 22, verses 1 through 18. As you read, try to put yourself in Abraham's place and then feel the relief that comes when God provides!

“Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, 'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' Then He said, 'Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah,…  ( Click for more )

The contemporary song An On Time God contains these lines: “He may not come when you want Him to, but He'll be there right on time.” Whoever wrote these lines either knew Him or His book (or both), because these sentiments are right on the mark. And in the context of this series, to know that God is always right on time is the source of great comfort.

God promised Abram, childless at the time, that he would become the father of a great nation and that through his seed all families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12.1-3). Along with that promise came instructions…  ( Click for more )

Paul speaking to an assembled crowd in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia: “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it. Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness. And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land to them by allotment. After that He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.” (Acts 13.17-20).

Previously Barnabas…  ( Click for more )

The first biblical use of the word comfort was in regards to Noah's birth and the expectation of his father, Lamech, concerning his son (see Genesis 5.29). Lamech's expectations of comfort arose from the promises made by the God of all comfort following the sins of the original pair. Since those promises were made centuries earlier, it seems that there was probably common knowledge of God's plans to comfort man from the hardships brought on by sin.

However, Noah was not the Great Comforter that had been promised. In fact, as it turned out he also was in need of comfort. His soul,…  ( Click for more )

Lamech hoped that Noah [which means comfort or rest] would bring to the human race the comfort that was so terribly needed. (Genesis 5.29). He knew about the curse which God had placed upon humanity due to the sins of Adam and Eve; he also knew that there was hope for relief (comfort) from that curse (see Genesis 3.15 where the Seed of woman was promised to triumph over the serpent). While Noah was not the promised seed, there are events involving him that are worthy of our attention.

If a person’s character is a good predictor of how one will react under certain circumstances,…  ( Click for more )

The God of ALL comfort pronounced a curse and issued a promise of comfort at the same time (see yesterday’s installment and Genesis 3). This was the original “good news” - “bad news” scenario. From that time forward, at least some of humanity began to look for God to immediately fulfill His promise. This probably included some who did not trust God explicitly, but they hoped against hope that the promised comfort would come. Our message today will take a quick look at events after the Garden of Eden and before the appearance of Abraham, father of the…  ( Click for more )

The God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1.3) is the same God who sometimes delivers messages of sorrow. In our first installment of The God of all Comfort, we reviewed how Adam and Eve heard messages of overwhelming sorrow from the mouth of the One who had previously been such a comfort to them. To be swallowed up in sorrow is not a good thing; it takes away one's will to live and grow spiritually. God knew this to be a fact and before He delivered His messages of sorrow to Adam and Eve, He prefaced it with a message of comfort and hope. In today's devotional, we will take a…  ( Click for more )