Where do you go for comfort? What is your comfort food? Do you have a comfort item or a comfort person?

God the Father wants to be our comfort and comfort us in all our troubles.

See how Paul describes God in his letter to the Corinthians:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 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. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (emphasis mine)

Recently I watched as a toddler slipped and hit his head as he was trying to keep up with the big boys around a slippery pool. What did the father do? You probably could guess that he picked him up off the pavement and held him in his arms. Why do we expect that kind of comforting embrace from the father or the mother? Because that is what we would want to do as we watch that situation unfold. Our "daddy" God is no different. In fact, he is described as the perfect father. (See James 1.)

So what then keeps us from turning to God the Father for comfort? (just a few ideas… feel free to add your own)

1. We don’t realize he is comforting.

2. We don’t realize that Jesus is the way to the comfort of the father and that through him we have access to God as “daddy”. (See Colossians 1:15-23 and Romans 8:15-16)

3. We know in our heads that God loves us, comforts us and welcomes us, but in our hearts, we still feel our place is in the servant’s quarters or in the back of the line, and not on his lap.

4. Perhaps we never had a parent or even a grandparent that we remember truly comforting us and therefore it is hard to imagine God comforting us.

5. It could be that we are clinging to our own self-sufficiency and do not think we need any comfort from God.

6. Perhaps we would rather “numb-out” or try to escape our pain and we would rather not take it to God.

When do we need comfort as adults? I think it is similar to children, don’t you? It’s when we are sad, hurt, afraid, alone, scared, frustrated, or exhausted by the troubles around us.

Have you ever pictured yourself resting in God’s comforting love? If that is a foreign concept to your everyday reality, ask God about it. Ask him to show you a visual of him comforting you.

One way God desires to comfort his people is through the Scriptures. See what Paul wrote to the Romans:

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope and overflow with confidence in His promises. Romans 15:4 (emphasis mine)

The word translated “encouragement” of the Scriptures can also be translated as “comfort” of the Scriptures.

Take God at his word. He is the God of all comfort, and he gives his Scriptures to us for encouragement and comfort. He is your “daddy” if you accept Jesus’ work of reconciling you to the father through his own death for you. God desires for you to act like a little child would, trusting his love and his desire to “comfort us in all our troubles.”

So, leave the “servant’s quarters,” leave the “back of the line,” and take your place in his arms, in his lap. Set aside some time, take out the Scriptures, and ask God to show you how he wants to father you and comfort you.

Jumping in his lap,

Ellen