The Comforter: Who or What is that?
- Christine DiGiacomo
- Aug 4
- 4 min read
When the phone call comes and the earth tilts on its axis, to what or to Whom do you turn? Like, I am asking - when the phone rings at 1:03 in the morning and the news is very disturbing, how do you find a way forward? And if in the midst of broken heartedness, is there any comfort to be found?
When Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit who he would ask the Father to send, he referred to him in unique ways: Advocate, Helper, Comforter - from John 14. 'I will give you another Comforter and he will never leave you.'1
So I'm wondering, do you ever think of God as your Comforter? Paul called him 'the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort.'2 Friend, do you think of God in such a way? hmmm...
Because here's the thing: heartache is part of our human condition. We will experience it in greater or lesser ways throughout our lives; of that, I am sure. Whether it is the death of someone near and dear, or betrayal of a loved one, or perhaps an accident of disastrous proportions that comes seemingly out of nowhere … whatever the cause, it is sure to come.
And so, after getting a call in the wee hours from one of my sons who had a bad accident and was in the hospital, as I prayed this morning, I said to God, ‘only you can comprehend the depths of our needs right now, and only you can effect change, and truly, only you can bring comfort!' Why did I pray that? Because it was true.
Of course I am not alone as yesterday I fielded calls and prayed for a dear man whose body was rejecting a transplanted kidney... and another from a dear woman shaken with PTSD from a recent emotionally-shattering situation . . . and still another from a local business woman dealing with threats from an unstable client. I am truly not alone in needing comfort from the God of all comfort!
God is good. His Word is so true and so very relevant, even as I prayed in the wee hours this morning, and I turned first to Psalm 4 to read and possibly grab ahold of words to pray (because today is the 4th of the month), and then because there are roughly 30 days each month, I then looked at Psalms 34, 64, 94 and 124. Wouldn't you know it? There were applicable words and emotions from each of these psalms to pray to my Lord.
Pressing in, I continued,
'So, Lord, if I were to step into your presence, crippled with hurt, what would you say to me? Or if I were to carry a dear friend to you, crushed by the heartache of pain and loss in her life, what would you say to her?'
Your attention?
“Child, I am with you; you do not walk alone. I know what it is like to lose someone you love, I know the heartbreak of loving another. Come to me, and I will give you rest.3 There is nothing that you will face or feel that I have not already experienced,4 so I can help you through your troubled time.
I have noticed how you sometimes think you can live your life without me—you think you are self sufficient and manage most everything by yourself. I appreciate your ‘can do’ attitude, but you see, when that is how you think, then prayer is just a nice little add-on to your daily habits; it is not your life’s breath. It is not what gets you through.
On the other hand, when life gets hard~
when you are unsure how you will go on,
when it feels as though your heart may just break in two,
when you are so tired or discouraged that life just
doesn’t seem manageable
when you are overwhelmed by circumstances,
certain that there are no easy or ready answers…
then, please remember that I, your loving God, never slumber, and I do not sleep.5 I am close to the brokenhearted—that is a promise.6
In reality, dear one, sometimes, it is through pain I am able to get your attention. It is when you cannot reason or talk all things out and find a place to make each fit … when you are unable to find neat little boxes or tidy packages in which to tie things up … that you turn your gaze toward Me, and give Me a chance. Sometimes it is when I am all you have that you realize I am all you need. As I told my disciples, so I say to you,
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives give I to you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."7
Perhaps when our hearts hurt, God has his greatest opportunity with us. Rather than just struggling along, we can ask God to come and meet us, and heal our brokenness.
I believe our Lord says, ‘You won’t face anything, Child, that I have not, so I understand … I get it. Because I knit you together in your mother's womb,8 I also understand you like no one else - the depth and breadth of your emotion. I’m not just big enough to bear it all, I am also BIGGER than all of it. I am outside of time and space and can rescue you. If you look to Me, I will give you what you need—the grace—to make it through one day at a time.9 I love you. I am here.
Your Father’
And this, this is the song that spoke to me today, from Anne Wilson, Carry Me:
Christine
Holy Spirit: Who or What? no.9
1 – John 14.16, The Living Bible
2 - 2 Corinthians 1.3-4
3 - Matthew 11.28
4 – 1 Corinthians 10.13
5 – Psalm 121.4
6 – Psalm 34.18
7 - John 14.27
8 – Psalm 139.13
9 - 2 Corinthians 12.9
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