“I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself.” (Ps 119:52 AV)
In the Hebrew and the Greek, the word ‘comfort’ has the same basic meaning. And it may not be what you might think. The nature of the comfort can vary. It can mean to console, encourage, and even rebuke. The nature can be critical or commending. The outcome of the comfort, however, is the same. The nature of this comfort is to produce a positive change. Justice may not be a comfort for the offender. Whereas justice is a comfort for the victim. In this octet of Psalm 119, the writer is musing over the wicked. In particular, how the wicked affect his life in some negative way. He goes to the word of God and seeks answers, encouragement, instruction, etc. so that he can have peace with things he cannot control. Note here the writer comforts himself. This morning, the reading was also First Thessalonians. Four times the word ‘comfort’ is used. However, in all four uses, it is not self-comfort. Rather, the people of Thessalonica are instructed to comfort one another. Here, the writer comforts himself.
Musing on the right things is the key here. We can entertain many thoughts with the mind. Some good. Some not so good. What we think on is a choice we make. We can either choose to think on those things which tempt or discourage. Or, we can think on things that encourage and edify. Where we allow our minds to wander is under our control. Therefore, to comfort oneself means the mind entertains thoughts and truths that encourage or edify. I have found the older one gets, the more the saint must adjust their thinking. Life will not continue as it is. Life is changing, and the things we have taken for granted for a long time are no longer certain. This tempts the mind into a discouraging state. The older we get, the more we forget. We even forget things that have happened or experiences that should have had a lasting effect of encouragement. I find myself going back to the scriptures far more often than I did in my youth. In younger years, we studied and committed to memory the word of God for theological reasons. Life was simpler back then. Now that life is becoming far more complicated, the practical application of the word of God becomes more needful. We know things intellectually. But we won’t know the breadth of those things until the need arises. Even those things we do know have a revived sense of application when faced with a life that is changing faster than we can adapt.
The Bible certainly tells us to give and draw comfort from one another. We need one another. We need fresh eyes or a more pliable mind to encourage us when we are overwhelmed or anxious. We need unbiased input of others who have gone through the same thing or who can at least see our situation from a different angle. But there are times when self-comfort is the most effective. When we have to discipline the mind around what is true, our comfort comes through the Holy Spirit and the Word. When the middle of the night comes and the forces of evil seem to collapse, there are bible verses and musings of the mind that cause that evil to flee. Peter tells us to think on things that are true and have virtue. Rather than allow the forces of discontent, fear, or frustration be the rule of life, the word of God should reign in our minds. I have this old army coat that was my father’s coat. It came with a wool liner. It was really heavy. I used to wear it quite often. Then I outgrew it. I still have it, but I use it more as a blanket when napping than outwear for winter. It is a source of comfort. It is something I do for myself. Spending time in the word of God, prayer, and musing on the truths of the word of God can be just like that old, heavy, army coat. The writer above comforted himself. No doubt other comforted him. But he didn’t rely solely on their comfort. He grabbed his dad’s old army jacket, sat in his recliner, and comforted himself.
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