Daily Devotional for Thursday, April 25

The Comfort of God’s Plan

“Wherefore comfort one another with these words,” 1 Thessalonians 4:18.

A small community faced devastating floods one spring. The town was built at the base of a large mountain. Torrential rains came, and because developers were building on the side of the mountain and moving large boulders, one whole section of the face broke loose and wiped out homes and businesses below. The town experienced record-breaking flooding, over a hundred people lost their lives, and hundreds more lost their homes. Everyone was effected in some way. Although it was a very diverse community, people set aside differences to help each other.

When Sunday rolled around, churches saw spikes in their attendance. Some had standing room only. People experienced great loss and needed hope. Christians all over town had reached out to help their neighbors and total strangers, and it made an impact on the community. Many attended church for the first time or the first time in a long time.

This passage from 1 Thessalonians on the hope of the resurrection was quoted and read a lot that week in so many funerals. Many believers ended their race in that flood, and these words were comforting to their families. They will see them again because they have hope in the Lord.

The word for “comfort” in 1 Thessalonians 4:18 is the verb form of the word Jesus used for the Holy Spirit who would come after Him (John 14—16). The Comforter, Encourager, Counselor, Helper came after Jesus ascended to walk us through tough times and encourage us to trust the Lord and be bold in Him. With God’s Word and His promises, we are to keep encouraging and comforting those around us.

THOUGHT
“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4).

Kelli Reynolds