I have only once had the privilege of having clothing made-to-measure just for me: a friend from church made my wedding dress and, armed with material and pattern, I arrived at her house to watch in amazement as she transformed those things into a dress that made me feel truly special. Bespoke clothing that is tailored to fit your exact shape (with all its lumps, bumps and oddities!) is exceedingly comfortable and feels truly snug and cosy.
More often than not, however, I have to buy clothing that is mass-produced, and, being small, that usually means clothing needs shortening to be of the same length that women of ‘average height’ would wear (my son laughs if I buy trousers, saying that crop trousers are just the right length for me!) This kind of clothing is cheaper and generally works, but it is not the same as the luxury of having something made-to-measure.
2 Cor 1:3-4 says ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.’ The comfort God gives us is tailor-made to our situations and personalities; it is ‘just right’ for us. The situations we go through give us insight into God’s comfort, which we can then pass on to other people. This comfort is not stinting or meagre; it is a comfort which ‘abounds’ – a ‘full measure of healing comfort’, as the Message version puts it.
I’m grateful that God’s comfort isn’t ‘off the peg’. In the film ‘Bruce Almighty‘, Bruce, delegated with the task of running the universe, gets bored with answering prayers, overwhelmed by all the requests (represented by post-it notes!)
In desperation, he decides to ‘solve’ the problem by saying ‘yes’ to all the prayers (which leads to more chaos, as it turns out.)
God is not like that. He does not offer us impersonal answers and comfort which might be tweaked to all situations and all people; instead, He knows us individually, hears our prayers, bears our sorrows and comforts us with bespoke comfort. He is the Father of compassion and God of all comfort, who loves us, hears us and helps us. We can relax into His personalised care today and know it will fit us perfectly.