The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Very Present"
Among her many gifts, our beagle Ellie possesses one that feels the most endearing and blessed. When she perceives that anyone in our family is disturbed or hurting, she will jump into our arms, look us directly in the eyes, and nuzzle our faces with her own. Ellie's administrations of comfort remind us of someone else.
"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" (II Corinthians 1:3-4).
"The God of all comfort" shines as one of the brightest lights of our Lord found in Scripture. Other passages speak to the same wondrous quality of God's heart.
"The LORD is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works" (Psalm 145:9).
"But Thou, o Lord, art a God full of compassion" (Psalm 86:15).
"He careth for you" (I Peter 5:7).
How much must our pains mean to a Father "full of compassion?" He cannot always extricate us from them. His love for us does not allow that in our present lives. We require challenge right now, including the suffering of various modes and measures that accomplishes so much in our hearts. "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). He must often meet us in our trials not to deliver us from them, but to deliver us in them. Indeed, in such times, the Bible declares our Lord to be "a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). Never does it say that about our blessings. Only of trouble does Scripture affirm God to be "very" present. Certainly, this special administration of His presence flows from the pain He feels in our pains. "We have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Hebrews 4:15).
Ellie draws near when she senses we hurt. She serves us as a very special minister of the God from which "all comfort" comes. She also reminds us of His caring, and of the compassion whereby our Heavenly Father more than cares about our sufferings. He involves Himself in our trials whereby He knows our pains not only by the infinite understanding of His mind, but by the involved presence of His heart. Ellie helps us to remember this promise and fulfillment of comfort provided by the One who made her, and by the One who made our hearts and can comfort them as we remember how near He draws when we hurt.
"Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted."
(Isaiah 49:13)
Weekly Memory Verse
Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.
(Acts 15:18)
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