Has Comfort Slipped in and Completely Overtaken Your Life? (Isaiah 29-35)
A warm cup of coffee with a splash of creamer, a cozy blanket, and a roaring fireplace are wonderful on a cold, wintery day. Ahhhh, comfort! What happens when comfort slips into our lives more and more?
Maybe a better question, once we have experienced comfort, do our efforts concentrate on staying in our ‘comfort zone’?
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The woes of comfort zones...
Comfort, in and of itself, is not bad or selfish or wrong. However, just as with anything on this earth, it can become an idol if we let it. In similar ways, so also can security, safety, wealth, or peace. They are all not inherently bad, but can so easily take our focus from God into obtaining them at all costs.
A common result from focusing on worldly comfort is a sense of complacency. Most often, risks are avoided, standing boldly is no longer an option, and whatever can be done to preserve the comfort already experienced is what we strive for so diligently.
To put it another way, it often happens that worldly comfort can overtake one’s stance on their Christian walk.
It creeps in slowly, even for solid Christians if you are not careful. One step at a time though, and it can override your Heavenly desires.
What Isaiah walked into...
Isaiah came at a crucial point in the Israelite’s history. He pointed out that their comfort had turned into complacency which turned into sin. What was meant as a blessing was transformed into them breaking the covenant they had made with God.
They abandoned Him: in their thoughts, in their action, in their worship, in their help, in threat of war, and ultimately, in their hearts.
They had a dire future laid out for them because of this. And poor Isaiah was the bearer of much bad news for them!
Consider how hated the prophets were at that time, the Israelites essentially wanted nothing to do with righteous living or the God that had provided so much for them already.
What the Israelites wanted...
These three versions of the same verse provide a reality that is often met in modern societies. A comfort of sorts will be the driving point of their life, to the degree that holiness gets thrown out for inconveniencing them with the truth.
There are ‘pastors’ now just as there were ‘prophets’ then, who claim the name of God yet seek to only obtain the praise of man. Often coinciding with this, is the desire for the riches that may be offered for these men to offer only blessings, whether true or not.
What we want...
Hold up! This was not just an ‘Israelite’ problem. The same tendencies and failures are representative for us all to take note of in our own lives.
We have the opportunity to read about a people group who God loved but continuously fell away. For us to ignore the correlation between our own hearts acting in similar manners is a form of comfort we dare not boast of.
The Bible is our source for truth. We have had it now for many generations readily available in modern societies and in our homes. But it is, in itself, a complacent comfort that has been ignored. We have it, we have the opportunity to study it, but we need not bother with it. Now, our comfort has come in it being present, rather than us being present in it seeking out the truth continually.
Rocking their world...
Isaiah brought some hard truths to these women. They were complacent, content, undisturbed… in a season of comfort.
Yet, their lives and that of the rest of the Israelites were about to be completely disrupted for awhile. Does this remind you of your own life?
We are no different...
Among other things, God specifically identifies multiple times in chapters 29-35 that the Israelites sinned by not trusting God to deliver them from the hands of other nations. Instead, they turned to other men to find safety.
These verses represent our New Testament version of the Israelites’ desires. No different are we, who fall into comfort zones and just want to hear good things.
If our comfort in life has taken over hearing the truth about holy living (or speaking it), then we are in sin and comfort has become an idol. Let us turn our hearts back to the only One who can actually offer us an eternal comfort!
Do you live for HIS glory?
A motto that should fast to every area in our lives… why not grab a daily reminder to boast for Whom we live to please?
Soli deo Gloria!
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I definitely think comfort is an idol for us. I know it is for me. Thank you for addressing this.
This is a clear and present danger for us in the privileged USA.