The Relationship Between Your Comfort and Your Repentance

Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Genesis 24:67

The word comforted is the same word Job used when he said, “I repent.” There is a wonderful comfort in repentance. You could translate Job 42:6: “I repent and comfort myself in dust.”

What comfort could there possibly be for Job in the dust? He has finally resolved his conflict with God. Being out of sorts with God is a terrible thing for a Christian believer.

If your experiences of life have raised unresolved questions, it may be that like Job, you have become preoccupied with yourself. You are still attending church, but instead of worshipping God you spend most of your time questioning Him. As long as you are out of sorts with God about why He has allowed certain things to happen in your life, you cannot have peace.

Sometimes people in the Old Testament covered themselves with dust as a visible sign of repentance. Why dust? Because we were made from dust (Gen. 2:7), we will return to dust (Gen. 3:19), and God remembers that we are dust (Psa. 103:14). Sometimes we forget that.

We think we ought to understand and be able to control all things. But there is great comfort that comes from saying, “No, that is for God.” Trying to be God tears you apart. Submitting yourself to God brings comfort and peace.

It is enough for us to know that God made us, He knows us, and when our bodies have returned to dust, we will see Him, we will be with Him, and we will rejoice in His glory. What a relief… to stop questioning, resenting, and struggling with God. It happened when Job saw God’s glory.

Where are you looking for comfort today?