NOVEMBER 17, 2015
Safe in His Arms
As a
mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.- Isaiah 66:13
Read:
Isaiah
66:5-13
I sat next to my
daughter’s bed in a recovery room after she had undergone surgery. When her
eyes fluttered open, she realized she was uncomfortable and started to cry. I
tried to reassure her by stroking her arm, but she only became more upset. With
help from a nurse, I moved her from the bed and onto my lap. I brushed tears
from her cheeks and reminded her that she would eventually feel better.
Through Isaiah, God
told the Israelites, “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you”
(Isa. 66:13). God promised to give His children peace and to carry them the way
a mother totes a child around on her side. This tender message was for the
people who had a reverence for God—those who “tremble at his word” (v. 5).
God’s ability and
desire to comfort His people appears again in Paul’s letter to the Corinthian
believers. Paul said the Lord is the one “who comforts us in all our troubles”
(2 Cor. 1:3-4). God is gentle and sympathetic with us when we are in trouble.
One day all suffering
will end. Our tears will dry up permanently, and we will be safe in God’s arms
forever (Rev. 21:4). Until then, we can depend on God’s love to support us when
we suffer.
Dear God, help me to remember that nothing can separate me
from Your love. Please assure me of Your care through the power of the Holy
Spirit.
God comforts His people.
INSIGHT:
Having warned of exile in Babylon (Isa.
39:6-7), Isaiah now comforts the Israelites with the promise that God will
bring them back to Judea and bless them (chs. 40–66). This restoration is so
certain and swift that it is likened to a woman giving birth to a child before
she even experiences labor pains (39:7-8). What God promises, He fulfills (v.
9). God will love His people like a mother loves her child (v. 13). Sim Kay Tee
Source: Our Daily Bread 2015