Better than fried chicken! Comfort to last beyond a lifetime
By Dean Collins
I grew up without an opportunity to know my biological grandparents. My paternal grandfather died when my father was 10 or 11. My paternal grandmother lived several states away from me as a child, and due to certain family dysfunction, I saw her only two times. My maternal grandparents died before I turned 4 and lived 1,000 or more miles away from my home in Tampa, so I did not have a chance to know them either.
Coming back from the long Christmas break, I had several conversations with students about their time at home. There was a common theme in these discussions; they all enjoyed the food they ate when their families gathered. Often there was a reference to grandparents and certain familiar menu items.
Comfort food
I suspect we all have some memories of specific childhood meals. Our craving for them likely falls in the category of “comfort food.” And often our comfort foods are not healthy salads or roasted vegetables! They often are more caloric and likely also contain more carbohydrates. I’m not judging here, just reporting my observations and my own tendencies.
It is quite normal for us to crave comfort, especially during seasons of stress and sickness, and when we experience psychological distress. Pan-fried chicken with a side of mashed potatoes are two of my comfort foods. At about age 4, I chose an older couple from the church I attended with no children of their own to be my grandparents. I called them Papa and Grandma, and whenever I visited their house they would make fried chicken and mashed potatoes. With a busy schedule and since I am frequently on the road, I have substituted my comfort menu. Now it is a Number 1 at Chick-fil-A, and it does the trick every time I choose to indulge!
A better source
Comfort food will take you only so far. We might experience a temporary comfort when eating our favorite nostalgic foods, but the comfort soon fades away. What we need is a real source of comfort and hope.
Isaiah 40 provides real and lasting spiritual comfort food. With some exception, the first 39 chapters of Isaiah and the prophecies they contain relate to God’s people in and around Jerusalem. But beginning in chapter 40, much of the prophecies relate to all of humanity and the promise of ultimate comfort and hope that would come to the world through Jesus.
The first recipients of Isaiah’s words in chapters 40 and beyond lived as exiles and needed to hear a message of comfort. They missed their traditions and their feasts. They would have loved some familiar comfort foods. The prophet Isaiah spoke words of comfort and hope, announcing that a day was coming when all things would be made right. Someone would come from the wilderness to clear the way for that day, to prepare the way for the Lord. We know from the Gospel writers that John the Baptist was that someone.
Questioned promises
While we see the richness and the fulfillment of Isaiah’s words in the coming of Christ, the original recipients could not imagine all that God was revealing to them. It seemed a long way off, maybe like the opening of Star Wars, in a galaxy far away.
In verse 27, Isaiah responds to the questions of protest he sensed or had heard from the locals in and around Jerusalem. God’s people had questions about Isaiah’s promises. And the prophet answered their questions with questions of his own:
”Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God?’”
Can you relate? Don’t we sometimes wonder why God is taking so long to answer our prayers and change our situation? Jesus did appear on earth and died for our sins and promised to return to earth and once and for all restore and renew all things for all time. But although we believe and anticipate that, it seems to us like it did for Jerusalem in Isaiah’s time: far away. It is not unusual for us to wonder and even quietly question if our situation, our need, is somehow hidden from the Lord.
Beyond comfort
Isaiah gives us a word filled not only with comfort but also hope (verses 28-31). These are familiar words. These are words I have memorized and am praying every day in 2024. These words help me focus on the gift of Jesus and that the Lord is the everlasting God who is still moving and constantly renewing all things. And you and I are a part of his plan. We are called as citizens of the kingdom of God to spread his hope and love in everything we do and in every place we go.
God’s promises were not just for Jerusalem but for all people and for all time. There is no politician or political party who can do what Jesus is doing. We will never find our hope in the systems and politics of man. Our best hope, our only hope, is in the promises of God. His gift of Jesus changes everything.
Do not despair. Jesus will return to make all things new. All things will be made right when He comes again. Hear the Word of the Lord from Isaiah. Read it. Memorize it. Pray it. And know that you will find the strength, comfort, and hope for the days ahead!
Here is our spiritual comfort food. And it will last for more than an hour. It will last for eternity.
Your time with God’s Word
Isaiah 40 ESV
PhanuwatNandee photo at istockphoto.com
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