The disciples are troubled that Jesus is going away and they can’t follow him now.  Jesus comforts them, by telling them he goes to prepare a place for them and will come and get them, and then he tells his disciples he’ll send them the Holy Spirit who will be another helper, or counsellor, or advocate(16).  Translations translate that word differently but all of them are trying express the idea of the Holy Spirit as one who comes alongside and helps, provides comfort, speaks on our behalf and strengthens the weak.

When you start reading the Bible with an eye out for encouragement in all its many flavours, urging, comforting, exhorting, pleading, and so on you begin to see encouragement everywhere.  Take the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19.  Elijah’s name is his mission, to help the people of God realise that the Lord is God, turn from their idols and worship him wholeheartedly. They should have done that at Mount Carmel after God’s display of his power and exposing Baal impotence. Yahweh is god, Baal isn’t. But at the start of chapter 19 we see that the King and Queen and the people won’t turn, won;’t repent, and instead Jezebel promises to kill Elijah. And Elijah is gutted! If they people won’t repent after that display of God’s omnipotence and grace when will they? What does God do for his disappointed and ejected prophet? He comforts him in his physical exhaustion with an angelic chef who provides a much-needed meal and tells him to sleep, not once but twice.  Before God meets with him and comforts him with his presence and whispers to him of his plans for his kingdom so that a strengthened Elijah returns to his ministry. God puts strength into his prophet.

That shouldn’t surprise us because ultimately God is the God of encouragement.  In 2 Corinthians 1v3, God is described as “the God of all comfort”.  That word comfort is the same word translated in 1 Thessalonians 5v11 as “encouragement”.  It’s one of the Bible’s flavours of the ice cream of encouragement.

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