His glorious soul-satisfying "I am..."

I am exploring the phrase "the God of all comfort" and reading Hannah Whitall Smith's book of the same name. I am aware that in my deep heart I do not yet know his comfort in some places.

She begins by talking about his name "I am". Let me quote:
"Every attribute of God, every revelation of his character, every proof of his undying love, every declaration of his watchful care, every assertion of his purposes of tender mercy, every manifestation of his loving kindness - all are the filling out of this unfinished "I am."

God tells us through all the pages of his book what he is. "I am," he says, "all that my people need": "I am their strength"; "I am their wisdom"; "I am their righteousness"; "I am their peace"; "I am their salvation"; "I am their life"; "I am their all in all."

This apparently unfinished name, therefore, is the most comforting name the heart of man could devise, because it allows us to add to it, without any limitation, whatever we feel the need of, and even "exceedingly abundantly" beyond all that we can ask or think.

But if our hears are full of our own wretched "I ams" we will have no ears to hear his glorious, soul-satisfying "I am." We say, "Alas, I am such a poor weak creature," or "I am so foolish," or "I am so good-for-nothing," or "I am so helpless"; and we give these pitiful "I ams" of ours as the reason for the wretchedness and discomfort of our spiritual lives, and even feel that we are very much to be pitied that things are so hard for us. While all the time we entirely ignore the blank cheque of God's magnificent "I am," which authorises us to draw upon Him for an abundant supply for every need.

If you are an uncomfortable Christian,(not comforted) then the only thing to give you a thoroughly comfortable spiritual life is to know God. The psalmist says that they that know God's name will put their trust in him, and it is, I am convinced, impossible for anyone really to know him (experience him) and not to trust him. A trustworthy person commands trust; not in the sense of ordering people to trust him, but by irresistibly winning their trust by his trustworthiness."

Further reflection has led me to believe that there are a number of reasons we do not access his comfort.
a. We have deep wounds of not being comforted as a child and have come to believe that no-one is there for us when we are in distress, so we become stoic. ("Go to your room, and when you have stopped crying you can come out!")
b. We have come to believe it is 'part of who we are' to complain, or express self-pity or cynicism... we would not know ourselves if we did not have this pessimistic streak!
c. We have the habit of seeking comfort in people feeling sorry for us, in the substitutes of TV, food, spending money etc... and do not consider we dishonour our "God of all comfort" and rob ourselves of his grace.
d. We are suspicious of optimistic 'sunny' people and think they are being 'unreal' because life is full of trials and hardships.

More of this coming....