Meditation, grief and comfort

Isaac is out in the field in the  evening meditating,  when he sees the camels with the servant and Rebekah in the distance. They see him too, and inquiring if it is Isaac,  Rebekah dismounts and  “took a veil and covered herself.” She becomes his wife and “he loved her.  So he was comforted from his mother's death” (Genesis 24:62-67).

Biblical meditation is about bringing some thought or passage of Scripture to mind,  usually with a view to application to ones life.  The picture is of a cow brining the cud up from it's stomach,  and chewing it over and over. In many ways these posts are meditations on Genesis. Psalm 1 tells us that the person is blessed whose  “delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night” (verses 1, 2). We can of course meditate on things other than Scripture, and for good or bad, it changes our hearts (Psalm 19:14). That's why we are commanded to guard the heart with all diligence (Proverbs 4;23). It's about being carful about what we meditate on!

“She took a veil and covered herself.“ There's something very beautiful and precious about entering into marriage in innocence and shyness. Unencumbered by the jealousy and memory of other sexual encounters,  this innocence is fertile ground for love to grow. It's not everything of course, and most of us have blown it,  but it's worth appreciating its beauty, and the flying start God's way of doing things gives to a marriage.  But thank God  for forgiveness and cleansing (1 John 1:9).

“..... he loved her.  So he was comforted from his mother's death.” The Scripture tells us that death entered the world through sin (Romans 5:12),  and that “love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave” (Song 8:6).  At 21, my father's death devastated me. I regressed, going back to calling him “daddy.”  I was not a believer at the time,  and I had no hope.  Because of the work of Christ on the cross, the believer has life everlasting in eternity (John 3:16). And “we do not grieve as those without hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).  We don't grieve without hope, but we do grieve, and we are in need of comfort.

It seems to me that part of what verse 67 is saying is that the newness and freshness of the marriage act brought comfort as they lost themselves in each other's love (see also 2 Samuel 12:24). But of course this is not the only source of comfort,  nor is grief the only thing for which we need comfort. Part of Christ's mission on earth was “to comfort all who morn” (Isaiah 61:2; Luke 4:18).  Paul tells us that the ultimate and only source of comfort is the “God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles” (2 Corinthians 1:3.” What many of us don't realize, is that the comfort we receive equips us for evangelism.  In particular God “comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (verse 4).

Thank You Lord for Your comfort in all our troubles. Help us to grieve our losses in a healthy way moving through the various stages by Your grace as we receive Your  comfort. And help us to know how to use the experience of that comfort to lead others to receive Your comfort so that You may receive the honour and praise  in Jesus Name Amen