Finding True Comfort: The Quest Beyond God
Pastor Kyle Veach
In our world, uncertainty looms large and discomfort is an unwelcome companion, so our hearts naturally yearn for solace and guidance. We seek leaders to comfort us, to pave the way forward, and to save us from the tumultuous waves of life. But what happens when the comfort we seek seems elusive? When the God we look up to appears slow, absent, or indifferent to our needs? In these moments, do we turn to Him, or do we look elsewhere for solace?
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The Allure of Comfort: A Quest Beyond God
In the quest for comfort, we often find ourselves drawn to temporary fixes that promise respite from life's trials. From relationships to substances, we seek solace in anything that offers a momentary reprieve from our discomfort. Yet, in our pursuit of ease, we often overlook the source of true comfort – God Himself.
Our society is achingly addicted to comfort, seeking it in all the wrong places. From seeking validation in relationships to drowning sorrows in alcohol, our pursuit of comfort knows no bounds. Not all of these comforts are negative - we seek comfort in friends, pets, music, spa-outings, and so on, in our own effort to calm areas where we are stressed, or comfort areas where we are in pain.
Golden Calves of Our Own Making:
In Exodus 32, we see that this pursuit of comfort is not new to our current contextual time, but it’s a pattern of behavior all throughout history. God’s people, thousands of years ago were enslaved by Egypt for 400 years. At the end of the 400 years, God sent a man named Moses to rescue the Israelites, and bring them out of slavery into a land that was promised to them by God. You may know this story as it’s very familiar when God parts the Red Sea at the command of Moses and all of Israel walks on dry land into the desert, out of slavery and away from Pharaoh.
The next part is where things get a little hairy. As the Israelites are adjusting to their new freedom, Moses goes up on a mountain top to receive guidance, otherwise known as the 12 Commandments from God. The Israelites get impatient, and struggle when Moses has been at the top of the mountain longer than they expected:
Exodus 32:1 - When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”
The Israelites fashioned a golden calf when Moses seemed delayed. We, too, craft idols in moments of discomfort, forsaking the true comfort found in God. I mean, how often do scroll social media when you’re spent after a long day at work? How often do you online shop when you just want something to make you feel better? How often do you try to provide the best vacation or tv or house for your family to make everyone feel better? It’s not a crazy concept to reconfigure into our own landscape.
The Virtue of Patience: Waiting on God's Timing
Patience, though often elusive, is a virtue essential in our journey of faith. When life's pace seems slow and God's timing incomprehensible, we must learn to flex the muscle of patience, trusting in His promises and His perfect timing. In Galatians, Paul emphasizes the value of trusting in God’s timing because God always has the best for us, in his timing!
Galatians 6:9 - So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.
The Impatience Epidemic: In a world of instant gratification, patience is a rare commodity. We are so used to getting what we want, when we want, and how we want it. You don’t even have to wait more than 2-days for anything to ship from anywhere else across the country. You can have the lunch you’ve always wanted, the toy you’ve always wanted, and the vacation you’ve always wanted with a few clicks and a touch of your thumb-print or scan of your face. Yet, as we wait on God for His timing and His blessing, we cultivate wisdom and deepen our trust in His faithfulness.
Learning from History: Sometimes our expectations get in the way. We want things our way and in our timing. Just as the Israelites grew impatient despite centuries of slavery, we too falter when God's plans diverge from our expectations. When God seems to be taking too long to answer our cries, we often try to facilitate our own answers to our own prayers. But in our impatience, let us not forget God's track record of faithfulness and deliverance. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever and is always faithful to answer our prayers!
2 Thessalonians 3:3 - But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
Hebrews 10:23 - Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.
Building Idols, Finding Discontent: The Pitfalls of Impatience
When discomfort breeds discontent, we are quick to look for new leaders, new gods to guide us - this is what the Bible calls idols. Yet, in our haste, we fail to recognize that anything crafted apart from God will inevitably fall short – mere shadows of His divine plan.
The False Promise of Idols: Just as the Israelites clamored for a god to lead them, we too seek comfort in the arms of idols, blind to their inherent limitations and powerlessness. Some of our false idols that we often look to when we want things to change are the following:
Money + Influence - We try to earn more money, spend our money, or invest our time and resources to make us feel more at ease or more in control with the stresses of our lives. For where our treasure is, there our heart is - what we invest into (not just financially), that shows us what we care about the most.
Government + Leaders - As an election is making its way closer and closer, many of us are looking to the government and political leaders to fix problems in this world - but time and time again, we are disappointed because leaders are human, no one is perfect outside of God, and God is our only true hope. We are asked to be good citizens, vote, and push for policies to protect the very people God loves - but that does not mean that any one person is going to come close to what God can do.
Education + Wisdom - The pursuit of knowledge and understanding is a slippery slope of spurious sagacity. (Yes, I tried really hard to create that perfect alliteration to sound super smart). It’s a slippery slope because in our pursuit of understanding, we will never know enough to create a sense of control over our lives. That’s why faith actually leads to peace because in our trust in God, we trust that He knows best and that He has everything in His hands. We are not naive, we are not ignorant, we can still pursue understanding and knowledge and wisdom, but in our pursuit of it, we do not consistently chase after a moving target to find our peace.
Revisionist History: In our pursuit of comfort, we often rewrite history, focusing on our present discomfort rather than God's past faithfulness. In acknowledging His goodness, we find the true source of comfort and strength.
The Innate Desire to Follow: Embracing Our Need for Guidance
Deep within our souls lies an innate longing for guidance, a desire to be led by something greater than ourselves. Though the journey may be fraught with uncertainty, we find solace in surrendering to the One who knows the way forward. When we need comfort - God is there.
Embracing Follow-ship: In a world that exalts leadership, we must embrace the beauty of follow-ship, submitting ourselves to the wisdom and guidance of our Heavenly Father. God’s ways are better than our ways, and He knows so much more than we could even fathom. Becoming a good follower of Jesus is the way we get to know God’s love and his character.
In conclusion, let us remember that true comfort is not found in fleeting pleasures or earthly leaders but in the unwavering love and faithfulness of our Heavenly Father. As we navigate life's uncertainties, may we fix our eyes on Him, trusting in His promises and resting in His comforting embrace.
Further Reading
Article: “Comfort” by Scott Wylie, written on October 16, 2023 for WisdomInternational.org
Article: “When God’s Timing is Taking too Long” by Joyce Meyer published at joycemeyer.org
Other Links
Want to hear more? Check out a sermon from the vault titled, "Where is God?" on YouTube by Pastor Kyle Veach from View Church Here is the link.
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