Pain and Suffering, Part 1

All around us this holiday season people are grieving.  They're hurting over un-met expectations and mourning over past wounds.  I know many of these people.  Some are dreading Christmas dinner because of family conflicts; others are burying their children.  Some are stinging with the barbs of unforgivness; others are plagued by unbearable loads of stress. More than ever these people need Jesus.  Yeshua, as the Hebrews called him, is referred to as the Consolation of Israel (Luke 2:25).  The root word here - console - means "to soothe the grief of another, to comfort, to give solace."   Is this not the perfect description of the Messiah; of Yeshua? 

Jesus, God wrapped in human flesh, is the One who:

• heals [our] broken hearts (Psalm 147:3 );
• comforts the downcast (2 Corinthians 7:6);
• binds up our wounds (Job 5:18);
• comforts all who mourn (Isaiah 61:2);
• wipes away every tear from [our] eyes (Revelation 7:17 ); 
• and comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble (2 Corinthians 1:4).

Let Jesus be your Consolation today.  He is truly the only One who can actually accomplish the task.