Jehovah God Provides Comfort in All Our Trials -COMFORT WHEN WE SUFFER TRIALS

Consider what happened to Hannah, Elkanah's beloved wife.  She wanted to have children but could not. However, her husband's other wife, Peninnah, had many children.  (Read 1 Samuel 1:4-7)  To make matters worse, Peninnah would make fun of Hannah "year after year" because of this.  That hurt Hannah very much. What did she do to find comfort?  She prayed to Jehovah. Hannah even went to Jehovah's place of worship and prayed for a very long time. She asked Jehovah to give her a son, and she trusted that he would help her. After she finished praying, she felt much better and "her face was no longer downcast."  (1 Samuel 1:12, 17, 18)  She knew that Jehovah would either give her a son or comfort her in some other way.

Since we are imperfect and live in Satan's world, we will continue to have trials.  (1 John 5:19)  But we have help. We can pray to Jehovah, "the God of all comfort."  That is what Hannah did. She told Jehovah exactly how she felt and begged him for help.  In a similar way, when we are suffering, we should do more than simply mention our problems to Jehovah.  We need to beg him for help and tell him exactly how we feel.- Philippians 4:6, 7. 

We may feel deep sadness because we have no children or because someone we love has died. But we can still find comfort.  Consider the example of Anna, who lived  in Jesus' day. After she had been married for only seven years, her husband died.  And It seems that she did not have any children. But what helped her? "She was never missing from the temple." Even when Anna was 84 years old, she was still going to the temple to pray and to worship  Jehovah.  (Luke 2:37)  That is what comforted her and helped her to be happy despite her trials.  

We can also find comfort from the true friends we make in the congregation.  (Proverbs 1 8:24) Paul was only five years old when her mother stopped serving Jehovah. Paul was very sad, and things were difficult for her. "Even though Ann was not related to me, I found her loving concern to be such a help," Paula explains.  "It helped me very much to keep serving Jehovah."  Since then, Paula's mother has returned to the congregation, and this makes Paula very happy.  Ann too is happy that she could help Paula to continue serving Jehovah.


When we are busy doing good things for other people, we often forget about out own problems. For example, many sisters, married or unmarried, know that when they share the good news of the Kingdom with others, they are working with Jehovah and are doing his will.  This makes them happy.  In fact, all of us can show concern for others by sharing the good news with them. And when we do kind things for our brothers and sisters, we draw closer to them.  (Philippians 2:4) That is what the apostle Paul did. He cared for others just as "a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children."  Paul also comforted and encouraged his brothers "just as a father does his children." -Read 1 Thessalonians 2:7, 11, 12. 

Next time: Jehovah Provides Comfort in All Our Trials -COMFORT IN THE FAMILY

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