Words of Comfort & Eliminating Shame

“Comfort, oh comfort my people,” says your God.  “Speak kindly to Jerusalem; and call out to her, that her hardship has ended, that her iniquity has been removed…”

Isaiah 40:1-2

By all accounts, and at first glance, this verse appears to be quite similar to the verse shared in last week’s blog.  To speak words of comfort is to speak a good word, is it not?  Indeed.  Yet, something else struck me as I studied this verse, and it left me with another category that NEEDS TO BE DECLARED, and often!

A good word from the tongue of the wise brings healing (Proverbs 12:18b).  I love that thought.  I especially love it in light of so many who have struggled with shame over past sin.  Shame is a horrible, crippling thing to live with, and it ought not to be.  Yet, how often do we, the church in general, not walk with sinners right out of their shame-filled-journeys into healing?

That’s the question this verse raised for me this week.  So often, when I meet with women of all ages, we almost always get to issues of the heart.  What I hear most often is just how difficult it is to get beyond a painful past.  What I hear from so many is that even in church, even among Christian people, who love them (and they know they are loved), there is still a sense of judgment.  What I hear is that so many feel this barrier distancing them from ever being really close, because past moral failure stands between them like a pink elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss. 

However, look again at the verse above.  Jerusalem, God’s beloved people, has been stuck in sin.  Yet God calls the prophet to call out and proclaim that her iniquity has been satisfied!  By doing so, his beloved is comforted.  The barrier sin has created is demolished, and Jerusalem is free!  Free to serve.  Free to live.  Free to be loved fully, and free to love.  The truth about God’s request is that it’s IMPORTANT – that’s why he says the word “comfort” twice.  When God wants to stress something that is BIG, he repeats himself.  Not only is it important to proclaim the iniquity has been paid for, but it’s important how it’s done.  We can only comfort repentant sinners with a kind word.

The Hebrew word for kind is different than the word for good.  Here is what the Lord is really saying:  Put to ease and strengthen the heart of my sinful child.  Use kind words, words that speak to the feelings of the inner man, and influence the mind toward belief. 

I am so challenged, once again, with my speech.  I am challenged to not be afraid to speak of the very thing that we think we ought to avoid, but bring it to light, because it is part of all our stories.  It is important to comfort one another, the sinner, by speaking words of truth that ease the heart, and strengthen faith.  Let us all journey side-by-side, until shame is a thing of the past.  This is an important job, and should be the joy, of every church.