comfort | WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

For all the things that were written beforehand were written for our instruction, so that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope.
ROMANS 15:4

Throughout the scriptures there are examples of God’s dealings with people who experienced joys and challenges similar to our own.

Have you read a passage of the scriptures and identified with a Bible character? Have you been amazed as you read on the page the very feelings you have struggled with, and realized that a man or woman who lived thousands of years ago felt that same way?

Why would God go to the trouble of preserving the experiences and expressions of people and have them translated into thousands of languages? We today need to keep our hope strong. The practical advice and comfort God imparts to us by the examples of his people is like a great crowd cheering us on to the end.

Two sparrows sell for a coin of small value, do they not? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. So have no fear; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Matthew 10:29-31

I have never seen it for myself, but I have read that in the Middle East, sparrows have been sold in the markets as an item of food. Think shish kebabs. In ancient times, of all the birds used for food, sparrows were the cheapest.

This explains why Jesus pointed to those sparrows and how cheap they cost, how little the value of their life was considered, and he said that not one of them was forgotten by God.

He used this powerful example to encourage his followers not to be afraid – they were precious in the eyes of their Creator.

There may be times when we feel worthless, especially as in this world. we may suffer harsh treatment from others. Yet in the eyes of God, our lives are precious. He is aware of all of our suffering and the challenges we face.