When You Don’t Feel the Comforter

One of the best things about the Lord is that nothing you can tell Him will ever make Him think any less of you. He already knows the good, the bad, and the ugly. He’s just waiting for you to bring it out of the dark corners of your heart and into His light. Recently, I dumped a whole series of situations at the Lord’s feet. When I finished, I looked back over my list and saw the common thread. Like a child with a skinned knee and busy parents, I felt hurt and in need of a comfort I was not feeling from the Comforter. It was then the Lord reminded me that timing was another one of His best qualities. He sent a sister in Christ with a story to illustrate the solution to my problem.

Saturday Morning Ladies’ Bible Study

The COVID pandemic has done a lot of damage, but one good thing that has come out of it is Zoom. The ladies at my church started a virtual Bible study that has held on for about two years. Each Saturday a different sister will pray to hear from the Lord and deliver a lesson from the Bible. More than once the Lord has used one of my sisters in Christ to speak into my situation.

This time the Bible study was titled “Perplexed but Not in Despair.” Sister Kelly brought out the difference between the feeling of despair and despair as a heart posture. Despair is a loss of hope. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:8, “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.” Paul lost hope for a moment, but it was a feeling. On the other hand, he says in 2 Corinthians 4:8 that “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair.” He might have FELT despair, but he wasn’t IN despair.

Our Comfort Comes from God

When those hard times come, we need comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “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.” From the Enduring Word Commentary, the words “all comfort” here come from the Greek word “paraklesis.” The idea is more than sympathy but of strengthening and helping. The Holy Spirit Himself is our “Paraclete” (from John 14:16, 14:26, and 16:7). From the Collins Dictionary, that word means “an advocate, intercessor, pleader, or comforter.”

But What Happens When You Don’t FEEL Comforted?

Sister Kelly told a story about when her precious grandmother was sick. She was throwing up and having diarrhea daily for almost a year. Even though she was a strong Christian and one who could always be counted on to live the godly Christian life, at one point she was broken with her condition. She started getting depressed and just shut herself away from the world, refusing to talk to anyone. 

One day, Sister Kelly came to her grandmother and shut the door. She said, “Mamaw, you have got to get through this! This is the devil’s last attempt to take you out.” She told her to get up, to stand what the Bible says and take her victory. Isaiah 59:19B says that “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” That standard is the Word of God. She had to come against what she felt and to stand on what the Word of God said about her and her situation. Her grandmother did get up. She stood on the Word of God, and He intervened for her. She lived a few more years after that, but she never went through those symptoms or that depression again.

The Devil Lies, But We Must Stand on Truth

The enemy loves to bring lies to make us feel some type of way. He will whisper that we are forgotten by God, in a hopeless situation, or will never get our prayers answered. He will bring feelings of sadness, fear, or frustration and even anger and try to get us to the point of despair. And when he does, we can either listen to his lies and agree with the feelings, or we can stand on what the Word of God says and get up and take our victory. It is only then that the Comforter can help us.

 5 Verses to Remind Us to Take Our Victory

“Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.”

Psalm 119:173

If we are listening to the enemy’s lies, we will receive the enemy’s fruit. It’s when we choose to believe the truth of what the Word of God says that the Comforter can bring the fruit of the Spirit.

“But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.”

Psalm 3:3

God can lift our heads. He can make us feel better when we truly believe that our help and hope is in Him and not in our situation.

“Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.”

Proverbs 12:25

The Bible promises that good words WILL make us glad. Even if we don’t feel glad in a moment, we can immerse ourselves in the Word of God until the words sink in. God’s Word will not return void (Isaiah 55:11).

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”

Proverbs 18:21

Words have power. We can listen to words of death from the enemy or words of life from the Holy Spirit and God’s Word. We can choose life over death.

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

Isaiah 26:3

The peace that passes understanding will come when we focus on God and His Word and trust what He tells us. We can stand on His promises and believe what He says.

The Comforter Will Comfort Us When We Focus on God

Job 14:1 says, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.” As long as we are in this life, we will face tests and trials and be buffeted by the enemy’s lies. When we find ourselves in hard times and maybe even in physical and emotional pain, we can’t give place to the devil. We must do what Philippians 4:8 tells us to do and think on lovely things. For the Comforter to help us, we have to get our eyes and ears off the enemy and the situation and onto God and His Word.

In fact, God’s Word is full of promise after promise for the believer. He promises to fight for us, deliver us, honor us, give us rest, have mercy on us, provide for us, strengthen us, bless us, honor us, protect us, keep us, hear us, teach us, guide us, avenge us, and be there for us in eternity. God only has one condition for all these promises. He must be our God. Here’s a blog I wrote back in 2020 that lists these Bible verse promises. It’s called One Condition for the Promises of God. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you pick the ones you need to stand on. Write them and post them where you can see them or memorize them. Then the God of all comfort will comfort you in all your tribulation.

Like articles about the victorious Christian life? Try 7 Ways to Walk in Victory or Even When We Aren’t, God is Able. Please sign up to receive my blog in your email in-box. You can find that at the upper right of your screen (or at the bottom on a phone). Also, check out my YouTube Channel where I read the blogs out loud. I also have a playlist of hymns from my church.