Bible Studies

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“He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.”
--Psalm 147:3 NKJV

There are time in our human experience when we face such loss that we become inconsolable. Nothing anyone offers us can compensate for the loss that has occurred. Whether the loss comes as a result of death, divorce, relocation, unemployment, or one of a host of other factors, it can be unbearable, even gut-wrenching. There is nothing anyone can say or do to make us feel even slightly better.

As difficult as these time are, they do provide opportunity to experience one huge blessing: the comfort of God. God can offer comfort when no one else can. Two years ago, when I was pregnant with my fourth child, my husband fell away from the Lord, took up drinking, and decided to leave us. I was in the pit of despair, even to the point of having suicidal thoughts. I found during this time that I couldn’t really trust anyone. My friends expected me to be strong and walk in faith. Some even thought I was only imagining that my husband was really going to leave. It seemed that nobody understood or appreciated my pain.

As a result, the only One I could go to for comfort was God. As it turned out, this was not a bad thing. I learned that the comfort God has to offer is far superior to the comfort people could ever offer. I realized that people can listen, hug us, or speak soothing words, but they cannot be there constantly, they have no power to change things, and they cannot climb inside of me and feel my pain.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.” These scriptures call God the “God of all comfort.” True comfort can only come from God. Whatever comfort we offer to others needs to always be drawn from the comfort God has given us. When we receive comfort from God, we are able to offer His comfort to others.

During my time of crisis, as I became aware that I had no one to turn to other than God, I began to question Him about His comfort. I wanted to know what God’s comfort looked like. When I thought of comfort, I thought of being hugged, or having someone to physically talk to who would understand. I had a hard time understanding how God could possibly comfort me. I began to pray about it, and he repeatedly brought me to the following familiar scripture passage, which will be the focus of this study.

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord,
That He may be glorified.”
--Isaiah 61:1-3 NKJV

We know from Luke 4:18-21 that these scriptures were speaking of Jesus as the One anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do these things. God had called Jesus to be the Comforter to mankind. In the following scripture, we can see that Jesus is referred to as the “Consolation of Israel.”

“And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” --Luke 2:25-26

In the first half of the passage from Isaiah, the comfort of God is in the form of good news: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God.” The good news being referred to is the good news of salvation—the long awaited salvation. The comfort Jesus had to offer Israel, and has to offer us, is the message of hope. There is no hope in anyone except God, through Jesus Christ. Yet through Him, we have endless hope.

The hope that God proclaimed through Jesus is not only a message for the masses—it is also a message for each individual. This is indicated in the second half of the passage from Isaiah, where God has a special message for those who are mourning: “To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, That He may be glorified.” Again, this speaks of hope. When we have experienced God’s comfort as described here, others will perceive that we are strong in Him (trees of righteousness). Our strength will come from our reliance on His Spirit as we draw closer to Him during our time of grief.

“To give them beauty for ashes.”

This is a beautiful illustration of the exchange of hopelessness for hope. It was common practice in Israel to cover oneself in ashes during times of mourning. Ashes symbolize loss and hopelessness. Valuable items that are broken can often be repaired, and even if they cannot, they are still recognizable, and often even usable. Once something has been burned to ashes, however, it is gone. All hope of ever getting it back is lost. It is unrecognizable. Ashes are ashes. The ashes from one item are indistinguishable from those of another. Any prospect of being able to repair the item or even look at it again is lost.

Yet God has promised here to replace the ashes of hopelessness and loss with beauty, which is clearly hope. Beauty represents abundance and celebration. This is the perfect contrast to the condition of mourning. We can see this illustrated in 2 Samuel 13. King David’s Son Amnon was infatuated with his half-sister Tamar, to the point of obsession. He finally couldn’t take it any longer, so he raped her, then despised her. We will pick up in verse 18, where it describes her response to her grief.

“Now she had on a robe of many colors, for the king’s virgin daughters wore such apparel. And his servant put her out and bolted the door behind her. Then Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her robe of many colors that was on her, and laid her hand on her head and went away crying bitterly. And Absalom her brother said to her, ‘Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother; do not take this thing to heart.’ So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom’s house.”

In her grief, Tamar exchanged her beauty for ashes. As a virgin daughter of the king, she had high hopes for her life. She had expected to marry well and have children. In her high hopes, she arrayed herself in beauty. In raping her, Amnon had robbed her of that hope. She was no longer a virgin, and in all likelihood, no man would have her—a devastating circumstance in those days. Now that all hope was gone, her beauty had gone with it. No longer a beautiful virgin daughter of the king, she became simply “a desolate woman.”

Even in today’s world, we find beauty in situations where there is greater hope. I find that when I am hopeful, I tend to pay more attention to my physical appearance, and to the cleanliness of my house. I care more for other people and have a pleasant, cheerful disposition. When I feel depressed, these things just don’t matter to me anymore.

Beauty is a clear symbol of hope . After my husband said he was leaving me, it took several months for it to happen, because we had to sell our house first. Yet within only a few weeks, God had brought me so close to Himself, having taught me so many wonderful things about hope, that I was able to walk in joy. I had a very difficult childhood and learned, as a result, to interpret life through the filter of hopelessness. I had reached a point at which I would never allow myself to hope because I assumed I would always be let down. I didn’t dare let myself get my hopes up for anything. Hope was a major gamble. Yet through this trial, God taught me to hope again. He achieved this through the intimacy that I had with Him. He had given me beauty for ashes—and a much greater level of beauty (hope) than I had ever had.

“The oil of joy for mourning.”

Oil has often been used throughout history for its soothing effects on wounds. In fact, I have even found oil to be useful for this myself. Joy, then , is a medicine for the soul. God is promising here that He is going to fill us with so much joy, that it will serve as the antidote for mourning. This is clearly demonstrated in Isaiah 51:11-12 NKJV:

“So the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness;
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

This is seen over and over again throughout scripture.

“Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance,
And the young men and the old, together;
For I will turn their mourning to joy,
Will comfort them,
And make them rejoice rather than sorrow.
I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance,
And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord.
--Jeremiah 31:13-14 NKJV

“For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.”
--Psalm 30:5 NKJV

Another interesting point about oil is that it was often used in scripture to symbolize the Holy Spirit. We can see examples of this in both the Old and New Testaments.

“And you shall make from these a holy anointing oil, an ointment compounded according to the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil.” --Exodus 30:25 NKJV

God then listed several items to be anointed with the oil. What made the oil holy was not what it was made from, but Who it was made to represent.

“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” --James 5:14 NKJV

There is no power in the oil itself. It is a tangible symbol of the Holy Spirit.

God often commanded his prophets to anoint future kings with oil, symbolizing the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit to lead Israel. Moses’ brother Aaron was also anointed with oil at God’s command.

The representation of the Holy Spirit through oil is significant in studying “the oil of joy” because joy comes from the Holy Spirit.

“but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” --Galatians 5:22-23

Joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit. It cannot be truly experienced by anyone who is not a Christian. It is not something that can be contrived, although it is something we sometimes have to choose to walk in. It is more than a feeling. It is an ecstatic anticipation of future hope. We choose joy by doing what 2 Corinthians 4:18 says: “while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

“The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness”

The most interesting aspect of this comfort is that praise is likened to a garment. Let’s look at some passages of scripture that talk about garments.

“But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.”
--Isaiah 64:6 NKJV

“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?’ Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, ‘Take away the filthy garments from him.’ And to him He said, ‘See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you in rich robes.’ And I said, ‘Let them put a clean turban on his head.’ So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.”
--Zechariah 3:1-5 NKJV

“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its bud,
As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.”
--Isaiah 61:10-11 NKJV

I have often heard that we are to “put on” the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, which means to force yourself to praise God whenever you feel down, and it will lift your spirits. At times, I have done this, and it has worked. However, for a person who is dealing with deep grief, the very idea is impossible to even think about. The garment of praise is a gift from God. It comes as a result of hope. In the above scriptures, we see an obvious contrast between the filthy robes we wore when we were lost, and the clean, beautiful robes God gave us when we came to Him. That is where our praise comes from. As we experience the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus to free us from our sins, our response is to praise Him. As we live daily in the knowledge of this wonderful truth, our praise will continually keep the spirit of heaviness from coming upon us, as long as we walk in it. And during those painful times of suffering, the most important thing we can do is get very close to God. James 4:8 says that as we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. His nearness is the only thing that can comfort you in those agonizing moments. I know that when I am in deep emotional pain, I don’t want to be cheered up, or uplifted in any way. I tend to want to stay depressed. The nearness of God will strengthen you enough that you will be willing to allow Him to lift your spirits. So press into His presence. The more you do, the sooner you will experience the “beauty for ashes” (hope) and the “oil of joy” offered by the Holy Spirit, then you will find praise making its way toward your lips. This will further lift tour spirits. Singing praise to God is very uplifting, even when you are by yourself.

This does not mean you wait until you feel like praising—not at all. Having received the garment of praise, our lives are controlled by the fact that we are now clean—that we now have a true and enduring hope. The Holy Spirit will bring these things to mind. Also, you do not have to burst forth into song. Just taking the time to thank Him and tell Him about His goodness qualifies as praise. The act of speaking it out as the Holy Spirit brings it to mind will often make it feel more true and start a beneficial cycle of praising, feeling lifted, praising, and feeling lifted.

If you are in a situation where you need to be comforted, God has much to offer you. We can see from the scriptures just how much he longs to comfort you.

“‘Comfort, yes, comfort My people!’
Says your God.
‘Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins.’”
--Isaiah 40:1-2 NKJV

“‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!’” --Matthew 23:27 NKJV

“‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’”
--Matthew 5:4 NKJV

You may have close friends and family members who can offer you some comfort, but only God can heal your broken heart, give you beauty for ashes, anoint you with the oil of joy for mourning, and clothe you with a garment of praise. Your friends and family can offer reassuring words, saying, “It’ll be okay,” but only God can bring truth to those words. It may seem impossible to ever again experience joy or gladness, but with God, nothing is impossible.

“Those who sow in tears
Shall reap in joy.
He who continually goes forth weeping,
Bearing seed for sowing,
Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
Bringing his sheaves with him.”
--Psalm 126:5-6 NKJV

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