The God Of All Comfort

Have you ever had one of those moments?  A time when all of a sudden it seems like a lightbulb has switched on inside your head?

You know.  I’m talking about an “Aha” moment when something that had seemed impossible or utterly deflating a few minutes ago all of a sudden makes perfect sense.  Now you know exactly what you need to do.

Here’s one of mine that I hope will make you giggle.  With all the pandemonium going on around the world right now we need to laugh sometimes!

We were still living in Oregon.  Gary was out for a few hours one evening, and I had gotten Jeffrey situated in his room.  I decided I better clean out the refrigerator to get rid of some leftovers.

Now this alone should have you worried, because cleaning the refrigerator is not something I enjoy doing, let alone doing it at night!  I’m a morning person, and typically by about 7PM my brain is frozen solid until the next day.  (At least that’s the excuse I’m using.)

Anyway, I had in the fridge piles of leftover yakisoba noodles and rice that I needed to toss out.  I certainly didn’t want it stinking in our trash cans, so decided to put it all down the garbage disposal.

And, I decided to do so by shoving all of it down the disposal at once!

I emptied the cartons into the sink.  Then I took a spatula and began pushing the stuff down into the disposal – without flipping the switch to turn it on!

Finally I couldn’t shove anymore down in there, so I turned on the water and then the disposal.

The disposal started doing it’s “whirring/grinding” thing, then all of a sudden the sink started backing up big time.  All the noodles and rice were filling up inside the sink instead of going down into the sink!

Whoa, what was happening?  I frantically took my spatula and started trying to cram the stuff back down, but it wasn’t working.

I started to freak a bit.  If Gary came home and saw the boneheaded thing I’d done once again (yes I’d done it before but it had always worked out okay), he was not going to be happy!

Finally I turned off the water and the disposal, and opened the cupboard underneath.  Unfortunately so much pressure had built up inside the pipes that the gasket/washer-thing on the main pipe had popped off, and there was gook all over the inside of the cupboard.

I was now panicking, big time…

I realized I needed to calm down, so I got on my knees and prayed to my Father.  Lord, what should I do?  Call a plumber?

After a few moments of being still before God, suddenly pictures began to form inside my head – kind of like puzzle pieces fitting together.  Never had that happen before!  I knew in my heart that my Father had given me a blueprint on how to fix everything.

Eureka!  It was indeed an “Aha” moment.

Sure enough, I followed the steps He had put in my head just like He showed me.  I was able to get all the pipes cleaned out; find the right tools to fix everything with; and the sink, cupboard and pipes were spic-n-span before Gary got home.

Yes, totally a goofy analogy, but true.  I learned that day that nothing is too silly or unimportant to my Father.

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On a more serious note (kind of), as I started my research to find out exactly where the term “Eureka” came from, I discovered that it started with a man named Archimedes (c.250 BC), who was sitting in his bathtub one day when suddenly a solution formed in his mind – the answer to a question the king had raised.  Supposedly this solution so excited Archimedes that he jumped out of his tub and ran into the street naked shouting “Eureka!”

Hmmm…  I’m quite glad I didn’t witness that in person!

But to really get serious, as we go through the Scriptures we can see many times when Eureka moments occur.

Here’s just a few:

• In Luke 24:13-35, you read of when Jesus rose from the dead, and he appeared to a couple of His disciples.  He begins a conversation with them, but they didn’t realize who He was.  Suddenly their “eyes were opened.”
• How about going back to Adam and Eve?  In Genesis 3:1-7, they disobeyed God as they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Then their “eyes were opened” (not in a good way, unfortunately).
• God used a donkey of all things to get the attention of a diviner as he was traveling to place a curse on the Israelites in Numbers 22:21-41.  He “opened Balaam’s eyes.”
• Elisha prayed that his servant would be able to see how God was surrounding them with His powerful army in 2 Kings 6:8-23.  And, indeed, the Lord “opened the servant’s eyes.”

One story I love about an Eureka moment is the Samaritan woman at the well, which is spoken about in John 4.  I think one reason I love it so much is because this woman is like so many of us who have gone through tough stages in our lives.

She had come to the well in the middle of the day to get water, because she was shunned by the rest of her people.  She had been married many times, and was currently living with a man she hadn’t wed.  In the middle of the day it was unlikely that anyone else would be there so she didn’t need to worry about the stares and comments.

But Jesus happened to be there one day.  And, once it became clear to her just who He was (v. 26), she dropped her water jug and ran back into town proclaiming her “Aha” moment to everyone she came in contact with.  She had been face-to-face with the Messiah!

The people who had previously shunned her now paid close attention to this woman and believed.

I just love her heart here.  Even though she had not been treated well by the people in her town, she still wanted them to experience the miracle of Jesus (v. 39), just as we should with others we live around.

And, of course, this made her no longer an outcast – just like I realized I was no longer an outcast once I surrendered to Jesus in my mid-30’s.  I now knew I belonged to God’s family.

The Samaritan woman realized the same thing on that eventful day.

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But friends, how about those “Aha” moments when you personally are reading your Bible?  All of a sudden a section of Scripture (or perhaps a single verse) jumps out at you, and you find yourself unable to move on.  A supernatural awareness comes over you.  It could be a portion of the Bible that you’d read many times before, but this time it’s speaking right to your heart.  It’s exactly what’s been going on in your life lately.

That, my friends is the Holy Spirit speaking to you.  Eureka!

An “Aha” moment is a time when God breaks through and gets our attention.  He gives us insight we’d never had before.  Suddenly we find ourselves taking 2-steps forward in our faith walk.  We now know God has spoken to us.

Or you can be in a time of extreme stress, when all of a sudden you hear His still small voice speaking through a verse saying, “I’ve got this, trust me.  I love you more than you can imagine, and I’m going to work all this out.”

You might even feel like He’s telling you to step out in faith and take a leap in a direction that you’ve never gone before.  That happened to me when I wrote my first book The God of All Comfort; and when I started this blog and Facebook page.

So in ending, what Eureka moments have you had?  I’m sure there have been some!  If you are a Christian, one you’ve certainly experienced is in Titus 3:3-7:

Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient.  We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures.  Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other.  But—

When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.  He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.  Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.

Yahoo – that alone is truly worth shouting out, EUREKA!  Because once we accept His grace and turn our lives over to Jesus, we will know with 100% certainty that when our time on this earth is over, we will be in heaven with Him forever.  We will know that nothing can stand between us and Him ever again.

So do not fear what’s going on in the world, friends.  Run to Jesus and His Word.  Let Him speak to you with words of love and peace.  He alone knows exactly what’s going on – always.

P.S.  As I was finalizing this post the other day, I read through Joshua 1 in my devotion time.  Did you know that just in v. 1-9 alone, our Father tells us to be strong and courageous three times?  Yes, friends, these words are for us today during all the panic going on with the Coronavirus, not just for the Israelites many years ago.  And, to top that off, He reminds us that He is with us wherever we go, and we’re to not be afraid.

Eureka – praise God!