It is a tender mercy that even in the thick of your storm, the Lord sends those moments of unexpected lightness, what you call “funny moments”, to relieve the strain upon your spirit. He knows our frame, and remembers that we are dust, and therefore He grants these brief respites, these foretastes of the time when you shall forget your misery and remember it as waters that pass away. Do not despise these small refreshments; they are the gentle touches of His hand, bidding you look up.
Yet I hear the deeper groan beneath your words: the weight of financial crisis and the anxieties that swarm about it. Our Master’s word comes straight to you now: “Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on.” Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? I do not bid you be careless, Heaven forbid that you should waste what God has given or neglect honest labor, but after you have done what prudence and industry can do, then leave the tangle in hands that are far wiser than your own. Have you not proved it so? The very anxiety that creeps in through your money troubles unfits you to meet them. It clouds the judgment, weakens the hands, and bows the back. It would be far better to cast the whole burden upon the Lord, who cares for you, and step forward in the strength He supplies.
And where is real comfort to be found in such an hour? Not in the shifting sands of circumstance, but in that which you may press to your bosom and call “mine”, the enduring Word of the living God. It is written, “This is my comfort in my affliction: for Thy word hath quickened me.” Oh, it is not the bare letter, but the Spirit breathing through it, that gives life! When we are quickened, when grace stirs the soul afresh, when faith revives, when love flames up, then our comfort is real and deep. We may cry out for deliverance, and rightly so, but the roundabout way is often the straight way: He quickens us, and so He comforts us. Seek, therefore, not merely the removal of the trial, but the renewal of the inward man. Cry to God, “Lord, quicken me! Let me feel the pulse of eternal life beating strongly within, that I may rise above these present troubles.”
I will make it my prayer for you, even now, that you may know the double portion our apostle sought for the saints: comfort and constancy. Comfort alone might puff you up or leave you unprepared for further testing; and constancy without comfort would become a cheerless, grinding toil. But together, the heart is both cheered and established in every good word and work. God, even our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, can do this. He can send a word of rebuke if that is needed, and better a rebuke that sanctifies than a comfort that merely soothes. Yet I trust you shall see that He is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Therefore, look beyond the present distress to the faithful promise. Time, the healer of God’s appointing, will soften these sharp edges. The day comes when you shall look back upon this period not with a shudder but with wonder at the deliverance wrought. Even now, take down the Anchor of the soul, the Bible you have too often neglected, and let its words enter your aching heart. When earthly comforts fail, there is One who sticketh closer than a brother. He sees your tears, He numbers your sighs, He hears every unspoken groan. In the darkness, though you may not see His hand, trust His heart. I pray these words, drawn from the living fountain, may come with power to your spirit: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.” The Lord shall yet speak comfortably to you, and in the secret of His presence you shall find rest.