Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2322
“Where shall I seek comforters for you?” Nahum 3:7.
IT is the business of the Prophet of God and of the minister of Christ to seek comfort for those who are in distress. “Comfort you, comfort you My people, says your God.” It is a part of our calling to seek, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to bring words of consolation to those who are heavy in heart. We have other work to do, but, still, this is a part of our commission. God would not have His people’s heads hang down. He would have their hearts full ofjoy and peace in believing, so He sends us, with tender, sympathetic words, to strive to comfort all that mourn.
I can truly say that while this is our duty, when we succeed in it, it is also our delight. To take the burden from the heavy heart is a great joy. Whenever I have comforted any mourners, I think that I have had even more comfort than the comforted ones! You cannot impart consolation to others without, at the same time, enjoying it, yourself, in some measure, at any rate. You put out your hands to open the door into the King’s banqueting house for another and, lo, your own fingers drip with sweet-smelling myrrh, from the handle of the door! Try to cheer another heart and you will go the nearest way to cheer your own. So then, I am glad that I have a text like this—only the gladness is sobered and saddened by the connection in which it stands and by the almost hopeless character of the question—“Where shall I seek comforters for you?”
I shall have only two divisions, tonight. First, sometimes, our work is very easy. Secondly, at other times, it becomes so hard as even to be impossible.
I. First, SOMETIMES OUR WORK IS VERY EASY, especially to those long practiced in it. To a young surgeon, a case of a broken bone may be a difficulty, but to one who has long been in his profession, it is a simple matter and he soon sets the bone.
Now, first, it is a comparatively easy thing to find comforts for true children of God in the day of their adversity. Dark days come to the brightest saints. A Christian may, perhaps, enjoy worldly prosperity for a long time and then the tide may turn, and the man may find all that he has melt away before his eyes. Nothing that he does may succeed. He may be brought very low, even to poverty. In such a case as that, it is not hard to comfort the child of God, for the Lord helps him to say, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” My Brother, your riches consist not in gold and silver—you have in Heaven a more enduring portion and if God, by impoverishing you of these grosser things, enriches you with more refined treasures, you will be a gainer—your loss will turn to your eternal profit. Therefore we comfort you readily enough with words like these.
The same is true with God’s people in bereavement. We come to them and tell them that it is the Lord who has done it and ask, “Shall He not do what seems good to Him?” In many cases we are able to tell them that they have not lost their relative or friend. Their beloved ones have only crossed the river a little before them and they will soon pass over the same stream and be forever joined where they shall part no more. Though it is some beloved child, or other dear relative, or even the partner of one’s bosom, or a much-beloved friend, yet to find consolation for mourners of that kind is not the hardest work that the pastor has to do. Refrain your eyes from weeping, especially keep back your heart from tears. They shall come again from the land of their captivity. They die but to live forever and you shall meet them before long!
And, dear Friends, it is not so very difficult to find comfort for children of God who are under the trial of persecution. There are still many of God’s people who endure the trial of cruel mockings and something worse than that. Some of you
have to suffer in many ways for Christ’s sake. “Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you.” Let not this trouble you—Christ has provided abundant consolation for all who suffer with Him, for they shall reign with Him forever and ever. They shall be—
“Brightest of the saints in light,
‘Midst the bright ones doubly bright.” They shall receive larger palms and brighter crowns than others who have suffered less for His dear name’s sake. We do not say about these dear Christians, “Where shall I seek comforters for you?” for we know where to point them to most effectual consolation!
Sometimes, we have to deal with fainting Christians, yet when we meet with them we do not find their case one of superlative difficulty. Every now and then, I suppose, almost all of us get into a condition in which our joy and comfort have to be looked for and can scarcely be found. Partly through ill-health, partly from the strain of high excitement, which is followed by a reaction, we got to be like Elijah, when he said, “Now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” There are times when the pulse scarcely beats and the blood begins to cool and the heart is faint. Beloved, whenever we meet with you in that condition, we tell you that we have been in that state, ourselves. No, we remind you that our Lord, Himself, was in an agony and was greatly depressed in spirit. We have to assure you that the condition of your frames and feelings does not affect your safety in Christ. We have to remind you that, though you are changed, God is not changed. The promise, the Old Covenant, stands just as fast when you are down in distress as when you are on the high places of exultation. You are saved by faith, not by feeling—and when feeling ebbs out to the very last degree, still hold on to Jesus—sink or swim, still trust in Him! When you see no trace of His actual Presence with you, rely upon Him, all the same, and be of good cheer. This is not hard to say—and when the Spirit of God is with us, we find no lack of consolation for fainting saints.