Comfort

‘Do you have time to comfort me today?’ I received this text message from a Syrian woman in my town on a Sunday evening. On Saturday, her father-in-law died of COVID and was buried the same day. The whole family was in deep mourning. How many people have had to deal with loved ones dying of COVID in the last two years? How many people have had to deal with a large void left behind after barely saying goodbye? How can we reach out to these people?

Today’s text is found in Psalm 63, verse 8. ‘I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.’ ‘Cling’ comes from the Hebrew word dabaq, which means ‘attach’ or ‘hold.’ Ruth 1:14, where Orpa kissed her mother-in-law Naomi goodbye, but Ruth clung to her, uses the same term. You also encounter the word dabaq in Genesis 2: ‘That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.’

‘Clinging’ is a stronger verb than ‘holding fast’. When the ground falls out from underneath your feet, and all the certainty in life disappears, when loved ones pass away, there is only one way out: ‘I cling to You!’ followed by the knowledge that God’s right hand is supporting you.

Finally, David expresses his expectation with the profound words: ‘Your love is better than life.’ When you live with this hope, you can trust God to be your helper and comforter. In both life and death, he is your only comfort.

With sadness, I went to the Syrian family to offer my condolences. After fleeing a war zone and enduring so much, he died after four weeks in the ICU. What remains is God. We discussed how He is the only one who can provide support and strength. In times of despair, of hopelessness, full of the shadow of death, we may pass on the words of Jesus. When human words fall short, God’s words come to our rescue.