I remember as a young boy I would sometimes fall over in the playground and graze my knee, as children are apt to do. With my knee smarting and bleeding I would cry out seeking comfort. The school nurse would put a band-aid on the wound to make it better but first of all she would clean it with neat Dettol, which would often hurt more than the initial injury itself. – The experience was that of desperately wanting to receive the healing comfort of the band-aid but not that of the cleansing. – Isn’t that so true to life? We want God’s blessing and we want to be comforted, but we don’t want to have to go through the painful experience of facing up to our sin, of being purged and cleansed, in order to be comforted. There is, however, no other way: We have to recognise our sin, confess and repent of it, and then, by faith, receive the cleansing and purification of Jesus… before we can be comforted.

R. Ian Seymour