They Comfort in Vain

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

My text this morning is Zechariah 10:1-2. As I was reading through the book yesterday, a little phrase popped up and caught my attention. When Zechariah mentioned idols and psychics, he said “they comfort in vain.” 

There are a lot of things that comfort in vain. Take cosmetics, for example. Consumers in the  U.S. spend approximately $16B a year to look good and smell great. But they are not the “fountain of youth” they claim to be. They comfort in vain. Same goes for the car you drive. No matter how European it is, you’re not any sexier for owning one. They comfort in vain.

False teachers fit into this category too. They pretend to have a new revelation from God, a new teaching, a new way. But they are just as blind as the millions of people who follow after them. They comfort in vain.

There is only one true promise of comfort; His name is Jesus, because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the source of soul-filling, need-meeting, and pleasure-supplying comfort.

Eugene Peterson’s rendering of Zechariah 10:1-2 is very insightful. He wrote, “Pray to God for rain—it’s time for the spring rain—to God, the rainmaker, Spring thunderstorm maker, maker of grain and barley. Store-bought gods babble gibberish. Religious experts spout rubbish. They pontificate hot air. Their prescriptions are nothing but smoke. And so the people wander like lost sheep, poor lost sheep without a shepherd” [The MESSAGE Paraphrase].

You’ll search in vain to find real comfort outside of Jesus Christ. Flee to Him. Ask for His tender mercy and complete forgiveness. You will not be disappointed because His comfort in NOT in vain!

Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone. For the idols speak delusion; The diviners envision lies, and tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wend their way like sheep; They are in trouble because there is no shepherd. Zechariah 10:1-2