INTRODUCTION
The book of Psalms is a priceless source of guidance to evaluate and nurture your growing relationship with God. The Psalms is a catalyst to ask probing questions about your relationship with God.
This article is the third of four articles that ask exploratory questions about your relationship with God. The topics in this third article comprise (1) God as your source of comfort and (2) God as your source of joy. I hope that by asking these questions, you can more effectively encounter God and thereby better understand and grow in your relationship with Him.
GOD AS YOUR SOURCE OF COMFORT
Introduction
The intangible felling of comfort can be illusory. To comfort is to soothe or ease angst, pain or suffering in times of distress, misery or grief. The Apostle Paul described God as the God of all comfort when we wrote 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (NASB95):
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Let’s ask some insightful question from Psalms about God as your source of comfort.
Questions about God as Your Source of Comfort
When you face dire circumstances, do you feel God’s closeness and the accompanying comfort that brings? (Psalm 23:4).
When you see the many crises in our country, do you turn to God for comfort? (Psalm 71:20–21).
When you are sick or afflicted, do you experience revival through God and what He says in His Word? (Psalm 119:50).
Do you receive comfort through the teachings in the Bible? (Psalm 119:52).
Do you receive comfort knowing that God is love? (Psalm 119:76).
GOD AS YOUR SOURCE OF JOY
Introduction
The fruit of the Spirit is listed in Galatians 5:22–23 (HCSB), which reads:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Joy (Greek chara) means an emotion of great happiness or pleasure. Joy helps smooth out the rough spots so that none of us wants to refuse joy when it is available. People are joyous when good things happen, as reported in Acts 8:5–8 (ESV):
5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city.
Paul had joy even during tough times per 2 Corinthians 7:4 (NASB95):
4 Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.
Let’s ask questions using Psalms to explore God as your source of joy.
Questions about God as Your Source of Joy
Do you experience joy because you know that God gives you direction in life? (Psalm 16:11).
During those times when you weep, do you take heart in knowing that hardship is only for a moment and that joy comes in the morning? (Psalm 30:5).
Because, as a believer, God sees you with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, do you sing for joy? (Psalm 33:1).
Do you receive joy knowing that God leads you in His light and His truth? (Psalm 43:3–4).
Do you sing for joy because God has been and always will be your help and a place to hide during times of trouble? (Psalm 63:7).
Do you sing for joy because you know that God judges with uprightness? (Psalm 67:4).
Do you shout for joy because you know that God has redeemed you through the blood of Jesus Christ? (Psalm 71:23).
Does your whole being sing for joy to the living God? (Psalm 84:1–2).
Do you wake up each day ready to sing for joy because of God’s lovingkindness towards you? (Psalm 90:14).
Is what God is doing in your life cause you to sing for joy to Him? (Psalm 92:4).
Does the truth that God created it all and controls it all cause you to sing for joy to Him? (Psalm 95:1–5).
Do you shout joyfully to God because of His plan of salvation available to all of mankind through repentance and trust in Christ’s finished work? (Psalm 98:1–4).
Do you experience joy when you reflect on all God has seen you through? (Psalm 105:43–45).
Is God’s Word the joy of your heart? (Psalm 119:111).
Do you shout for joy knowing that sowing the seeds of the gospel will result in the salvation of people? (Psalm 126:6).
CONCLUSION
Comfort and joy can appear to be in short supply in America today. Yet, the Bible teaches that a believer can always turn to God for comfort and joy.
If you are reading this post and are not a Christian, unless God intervenes, your eternal destination is hell. But, your destiny can change.
Today can be the day of your salvation! Please see my blog (https://stevebelsheim.com/2020/04/20/for-god-so-loves-you-2/) for a description of how you can be saved. You can also go to another article at my blog (https://stevebelsheim.com/2020/10/20/there-is-hope-even-when-there-seems-to-be-no-hope-2/ ).
Please send me any comments to steve@stevebelsheim.com or use the comments feature of the blog.
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