03 November 2010 Devotion for Today "Greatly Comforted" Acts 20: 7-12

03 November 2010 Devotion for Today "Greatly Comforted" Acts 20: 7-12

7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9 Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. 10 Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” 11 Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. 12 The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted. (Acts 20:7-12)

She seldom, if ever, waits for an invitation. She shows up unannounced and rudely barges in, demanding that others take notice of her. Everything has to come to a stop because of her, and she will not allow you to ignore her. She makes her entrance on the scene, takes all that she can from us, deliberately hurting us as much as she possibly can, and then takes her leave without the slightest courtesy, leaving all she visits to pick up the pieces of their lives while she goes about seeking other hapless victims. Who is this person who inflicts such pain and misery every where that she goes? Her name is Tragedy. Like a nightmare from which we cannot waken, Tragedy invokes her presence with a heavy heart and a flood of tears. We never know who she will visit next, and we cannot protect or prepare ourselves enough.

This unwelcome guest paid a visit to the church in Troas where Paul preached to a huge crowd throughout the night. Tragedy sized up the scene and waited to strike. The lamps which illuminated the room were putting off a fume. Those seat in the window sills did not help the ventilation for their bodies blocked the fumes and allowed noxious gases to build up. Paul, unaware and characteristically filled with the Holy Spirit, took no notice of what was happening as he preached to bleary eyed men and women struggling hard to stay awake. All of a sudden, there was a noise in the direction of one of the windows. Someone emitted a terrified scream as everyone's eyes dart to the scene of where Tragedy just struck. A young man named Eutychus, overcome by the fumes and sleep, falls from the third-story window to the ground below. Suddenly the crowd trumbles down the stairs and gathers around this poor young man, his neck broken, laying obviously dead before them. We imagine the shrieks and wails of his parents and other family members trying to lift his lifeless body from the ground.

However, Paul arrives, throws himself upon Eutychus and announces, "He is alive!" Could it be? How can this happen? No one seems to question this as the young man is taken back upstairs. They feed him and then Paul continues speaking until morning as Tragedy is evicted from the room. The God of comfort takes over where Tragedy leaves off as their heavy hearts melt into joy.

Everywhere around us we see the aftermath of this unwelcome visitor, Tragedy. But God 's comfort is the only one who is any match for her. He uses us to usher in that Comfort Some people confuse comfort with being comfortable. Those who are comfortable take no thought of Tragedy or her victims when they happen to others, and look for excuses not to get up from their comfortableness to out their arms around others or try to assuage their grief. Those who comfort, however, overcome thoughts of inconvenience. They may not know what to say in a situation which Tragedy has struck, but the presence of Comfort means more than a whole encyclopedia of words trying to describe the situation. This is the meaning of Comfort. Where can you employ God's comfort when Tragedy strikes? IF ever the presence of Jesus Christ is seen the most, it is when His comfort is invoked. May God help us not to fear comfort, but be used of it to bring to bind up the wounds and hurts of broken hearted people all around us.

Prayer: Dear God, Tragedy struck somewhere this week. I feel the pain and hurt of the ones whom she hurt. Help me dear God to do what I can to alleviate this hurt In Jesus Name, Amen.

Have a blessed day!