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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 Psalm knew about this kind of isolation and the emotional pain that it brings. Consider his words: “You [LORD] know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; My adversaries are all before You. Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none.” (Psalm 69.19-20). He was not the first nor the last to know such loneliness and pain. We will take a brief look at others who knew such emotions.

During his lowest of times, Job was visited by three of his “friends.” Their attempts to comfort Job were, to say the least, extraordinarily inept. Everything they said was but an indictment of Job's character. Hear his response to their ill-fated mission: “I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all! Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? I also could speak as you do, If your soul were in my soul's place. I could heap up words against you, And shake my head at you; But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.” (Job 16.2-6).

Paul the apostle was also a man who felt the sting of loneliness from a human standpoint. When Paul became a Christian, he willfully took actions which estranged him from his family; there must have been considerable pain involved in this circumstance. By the same action, he also drove a wedge between himself and his political and professional allies, the Sanhedrin. Perhaps the greatest abandonment was felt when his own “believing” friends forsook him. Read about one such time: “At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them.” (2 Timothy 4.16).

Now we turn back to the case of David. Note a few other passages that tell us how he dealt with human loneliness and the feelings of abandonment that come when one is forsaken by his friends. “Show me a sign for good, That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, Because You, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.” (Psalm 86.17). “Let, I pray, Your merciful kindness be for my comfort, According to Your word to Your servant. Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live; For Your law is my delight.” (Psalm 119.76-77).

Comfort in the Psalms is a theme that runs throughout the book. The need for comfort oftentimes was due to the failure of human strength of character; friend forsook friend and brought pain that can only be inflicted by someone who is beloved. Those who forsook David ran the gamut from friend to family to King of Israel. A man who was not firmly grounded in the love and comfort that comes only from God would have been destroyed by such attacks. However, they seemed only to serve to make David a stronger and more determined man. There truly is “...a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18.24). That is the friend who will never leave nor forsake us. Treat Him with the respect He so richly deserves.

Questions:

1. In his darkest hours, to what human comforters could the Psalmist turn?

2. How did Job say that his actions would have differed from those of his three friends?

3. No man stood with Paul at his first defense (trial). Who did stand with him?

4. Who is the friend who sticks closer than a brother? How should such loyalty be treated?

"Refreshment in Refuge" from Gina Burgess

Things that go bump in the night