The God of All Comfort

One of the covenants made at the waters of Mormon by the people of Alma was to “comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:9).  Perhaps one of the best examples in the Book of Mormon of fulfilling this injunction is the story of Lehi and Sariah as they anxiously awaited for the return of their sons from Jerusalem.  Sariah was deeply troubled because of her fear that her sons would not return from their dangerous mission to obtain the plates from Laban.  The text suggests that she and Lehi were not ignorant of Laban’s wickedness and the perilous situation that their sons would be in trying to get the plates of brass from him, for Lehi declared, “I also know of a surety that the Lord hath protected my sons, and delivered them out of the hands of Laban” (1 Nephi 5:8).  To state that his sons would be delivered out of the hands of Laban means that he and Sariah knew that such a deliverance would even be necessary.  This was likely the main concern of Sariah—she clearly knew who Laban was and the seeming impossibility of the task of obtaining the plates from such a wicked man and getting out of Jerusalem alive.  She likely worried that one such as Laban would do the very thing he tried—to slay their sons.  But Lehi showed great love and understanding and fulfilled his duty as a husband and follower of Christ to bring her comfort with the assurance that the sons would be okay, and Nephi recorded, “And after this manner of language did my father, Lehi, comfort my mother, Sariah, concerning us” (1 Nephi 5:6).  He showed great love towards her and helped bring her comfort by leading her to get that comfort from the Lord as she gained a witness for herself of the divinity of their command to go out into the wilderness.  Lehi showed us how one can stay true to difficult commandments from the Lord and yet still show compassion and love to those who can’t yet see the divinity of the Lord’s requirements.  Surely that experience of bringing comfort to a spouse was repeated numerous times with Lehi comforting Sariah, and Sariah comforting Lehi, in the dangerous and difficult decade that followed during their journey to the promised land.

               Paul was another scriptural example of someone who sought to bring comfort to those who were in need of comfort, and we see this especially in the 2^nd epistle to the Corinthians.  He first tried to help them to understand the comfort that comes from “the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).  Comfort in tribulations is always available because our Father is “the God of all comfort,” something Paul learned well in his lifetime as angels and even the Savior Himself comforted him in very difficult circumstances.  He tried to help the Corinthians see and understand that about their Father in Heaven.  Paul also encouraged the Saints there to comfort each other and in particular one who had been a transgressor, saying, “So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow” (2 Corinthians 3:7).  Even those who have seriously sinned merit our comfort and efforts to help them feel the love of God.  Paul testified that he was “filled with comfort” and he sought to bring that, despite tribulation, to the Corinthians, telling them that God “comforteth those that are cast down.”  He commended them for the comfort they had given Titus and told them, “We were comforted in your comfort” (2 Corinthians 7:4, 6-7, 13).  He encouraged them at the end of his epistle, saying, “Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you” (2 Corinthians 13:11).  While our command and baptismal covenant is indeed to try to comfort others, ultimately it is in bringing others to the God of love that they will find true comfort and the strength to overcome all their challenges.