The God of All Comfort

For the Lord comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.

— Isaiah 51:3

According to an article in the Dayton Daily News, Miami Valley Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) began the Infant Cuddler Program in 2017. This program allows volunteers to care for and comfort infants born to women who took opioids during their pregnancies.

Babies born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) suffer from a series of physical withdrawal symptoms, including an inability to sleep, fussiness, crying and more. It is one of the most challenging conditions neonatal nurses face. Many hospitals across the country provide a similar volunteer-based comfort program that gives infants this much-needed care. Volunteers provide soft and gentle social interaction, holding and rocking to help soothe babies.

These volunteers are simply called cuddlers. But their role has more to do with offering comfort.

Doesn’t God do this for us in our times of need? Just like these babies, we live in a fallen world that causes the inability to sleep, fussiness, crying and more. So God steps in and comforts us. He holds us close, wraps us in His arms and protects us beneath the shadow of His wings.

When He did that for the people of Israel in Isaiah’s time, they found joy and gladness and thanksgiving. When we ask God to comfort us today, we’ll ultimately experience the same.

Today’s One Thing

Do you need comfort today? Ask the Lord to draw near to you and allow yourself some quiet time to enjoy His presence.

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