The Consolation

"I waited for someone to have compassion on me, but there was no one ... and consolers, but I did not find one." Psalm 69. 20

It would seem that today's consolation is an endangered art ! Those who are experiencing great pain, trouble or even grief are often reminded that "it is normal" and that "it will pass" ; He is advised to take antidepressants while inviting him to keep his melancholy for him! To evoke his sadness in public ? In general, it does not interest anyone; Many are turning away as if it were contagious !

What is consolation ? It is a moment of sharing with one who has been struck by the death of a loved one, exile, isolation, disappointment ... Every time, this is a loss. Consoling means bringing words and gestures that allow the injured friend not to forget this loss but to live with it, while preserving it from the feeling of injustice so often present.

In the verse of the day, David describes in advance this absence of consolation that Jesus will experience during his earthly life; He adds, "There is no one who inquires about my soul" (Psalm 142: 4). Jesus had come to bring to his contemporaries the consolations of God; But he received none in return !

On the other hand, what does Paul now say ? "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, who comforts us in our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in some affliction that this Or by the consolation of which we ourselves are comforted by God" (2 Cor 1: 3, 4). It is in God that the believer finds the source of all true consolation. Divine consolation is not an end in itself, it makes the believers who benefit from it able to provide comfort in their turn. Human consolation is perhaps disappearing today, but divine consolation is still effective ... and every believer is a potential "consoler" for his brothers and sisters as well as the unconverted who surround him ... a good opportunity To show them the love of God. But must we not have suffered to call God "the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort" ?

Source (To pleasing the Lord)