Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, says your God. In Jerusalem, the place of your trials, will I comfort you, says the Lord. The lonely chamber becomes a royal reception room, the hard bed a couch of down, and the curtains are transformed into banners of love. Whatever may be the terrors of that tremendous day, or this trembling hour, we proclaim, in God’s name, deliverance. Sin is a disease, but the only hope this day is in the promise of my faithful God. I dare not rest anywhere else but on His bare Word. How can a sincere trust in God’s own promise ever be rejected? Cast the great net once more; call upon His name.
An appetite makes even bitter things sweet; is there anything bitter in Christ? Go in for the whole thing, eat, yes, eat abundantly. We cannot say it to our children with honey before them, but we may say it to God’s children with Christ before them. The fitness needed is an appetite, you have it. Receive Christ into yourself. When the Lord gives the appetite, He will find the meat. While you pray, the very smell of provision makes the mouth water. This is your peculiar comfort in affliction: God’s Word has quickened you. His entering into the sick chambers of His saints is unutterably precious. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. Some will say it is too precise, but we must not be too precise nowadays. We must give and take a little, no. The people shall dwell alone. God’s Word, in this age, is a small affair to many, but not to the heir of heaven.
Is the poor creature not right in his verdict? Here is one grievously sick. You cry out. Would God that we had sisters of mercy going from house to house. But the greater comfort is this: you have your own room, scanty as it is. You must hear Jesus say, Believe also in Me. Approach afresh to the Fountain. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Have you faith to lean upon the Lord in sickness? God will deliver; He must deliver, but He will do it in the best possible manner. It is not God’s will that every mountain should be levelled, but that we should be the stronger for climbing the Hill Difficulty. This is our comfort in affliction, His Word quickens us to endure and triumph. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. In My Father’s house are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you. This is the sublime admonition, the everlasting gospel that comforts the aching heart. Yes, pray earnestly. Guide the hands and mind of the physician, but remember the great Physician’s presence makes sick beds grow into thrones. Calm yourself not in the absence of trouble, but in the presence of Christ.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
