How does God comfort us?  How does a seemingly aloof and distant being reach down and touch us, reach down and move us to feel his care, mercy, and concern?  Johannes Sebastian Bach, one of the most remarkable and beloved musicians of all time (have you heard "Jesus, Joy of Desire"?), is famous for signing his music with the words "Soli Deo Gloria" (for the glory of God alone).  Why?  Bach believed fervently in the reality and comfort of God. 
     But Bach did not live without his share of troubles.  His first wife died very young.  Though he remarried and between his two wives fathered twenty children, he also saw nearly half of them die before reaching adulthood.  He dealt with court and ecclesiastical politics, he often had to compose his music at a frantic pace to please his patrons.  His life was not always easy.  Bach died at the age of sixty-five.
     Bach's music, however, speaks profoundly to his firm belief that God was, through it all, his comforter.  Numerous authors have pointed out that for Bach his faith was inextricable from his music, and that it was in his music, the melodies, the lyrics, the songs, that he felt God's comfort most deeply.  For Bach, God's comfort was not always something physically palpable, though at times it was, but something which nonetheless spoke profoundly to his--and not necessarily anyone else's--soul.
     As it is for us.  The psalmist tells us (Psalm 116) that if when in our hours of darkness we call to God, he will.  He will extend his comfort.  But he will do so in a way unique to our individual person, circumstances, and wiring.  And we will not miss it.
     When we believe in it, God's comfort is always exactly what we need.  Why?  Because God is there.