EMBRACING HOPE IN THE MIDST OF TRAGEDY

I cannot imagine what it would be like to endure a tragedy without the hope that God offers.  Without Jesus Christ, there is no hope.  There is simply an eternal, black, cold and unrelenting void.  Just last week I came face to face with a man who didn't believe in anything.  What a miserable way to end life.

Of course, we Christians grieve when those we love are taken from us, but we do not grieve as those who have no hope.  We do not believe that people cease to exist when they die; the Bible tell us that we will again see all those loved ones who put their faith in Christ.  As Paul writes, "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who die, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.  We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have died in Him" (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

Hope is available to us, even in the midst of tragedy.  And not only hope for eternal life, but hope of being reunited with those we love.  Hope is available now, even in tragedy, because God has promised to walk with us through any disaster that might over take us.

-- Luis Palau in “Where Is God When Bad Things Happen?”

#5942

CLOSE TO THE BROKENHEARTED

God, our Loving Father, is never too busy or preoccupied to hear your cry, to wrap His arms of love around you, and to give you Fatherly counsel. Psalm 34:18 declares, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Are you suffering today with troubles that threaten to overwhelm you? Then be assured. Your Heavenly Father loves you. Go to Him. He hears your cry. You’re not an interruption. You’re His child. 

-- Adapted from Anne Graham Lotz in “Fixing My Eyes on Jesus”

#5269

IS YOUR FACE TOWARDS ME?

Somewhere I read of a young man whose wife had died, leaving him with a small son. Back home from the cemetery on the day of the funeral, he and his son went to bed early because, in his sorrow, the young widower could think of nothing else he could bear to do. As he lay there in the darkness, grief-stricken, numb with sorrow, the little boy broke the spell from his bed with a disturbing question: "Daddy, where is Mommy?"

The young father tried to answer the boy and tried to get him to go to sleep, but the question kept coming from his confused, childish mind. "Where is Mommy? When is she coming home?"

After a while the father got up and brought the little boy to bed with him. But the child was still disturbed and restless, persistently asking his probing, heart-breaking questions.

Finally the little boy reached out his hand through the darkness and placed it on his father's face, asking, "Daddy, is your face towards me?" Given assurance, both verbally and by his own touch, that his father's face was indeed toward him, the little boy said, "If your face is toward me, I think I can go to sleep." And in a little while, he was quiet.

The father lay there in the darkness and in childlike faith prayed, "O God, the way is dark and I confess that I do not see my way through right now, but if Your face is toward me, somehow I think I can make it."

We can make it if God's face is toward us -- and certainly that's the case. God's face is always toward us. 

    “The Lord make His face shine on you,
    And be gracious to you;
    The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
    And give you peace.”  (Numbers 6:25-26)

-- Maxie Dunnam in “Living the Psalms: A Confidence for All Seasons” 

REJOICE, REJOICE

"A thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn." (“O Holy Night” by Placide Cappeau)

This classic carol captures the harshness and hope that collide every Christmas, especially in 2020. The world is weary. As the nights grew longer, we were feeling our way to the end of an unprecedented year. The typical comforts and joys of the season were elusive. And the sorrows we already carried became a little harder to bear.

Yet into that darkness, a bright light has dawned: Christ has come. God breaks into our weariness and sorrow with the light of His Son, Jesus Christ.

The story of Christmas is the story of people in darkness finding light, of weary people finding hope, of grieving people finding reason to rejoice.

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:5) 

-- Covenant Life Church, Gaithersburg, Maryland

#5001

THE FRIEND WHO CARES

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”  (Ephesians 2:3-4 NIV)

What does it mean to care?… The word care finds its roots in the Gothic "Kara," which means "lament."  The basic meaning of care is to grieve, to experience sorrow, to cry out with.  I am very much struck by this background of the word care because we tend to look at caring as an attitude of the strong toward the weak, of the powerful toward the powerless, of the haves toward the have-nots.  And, in fact, we feel quite uncomfortable with an invitation to enter into someone's pain before doing something about it.

Still, when we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not-knowing, not-curing, not-healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is the friend who cares.

-- Henri Nouwen in “Out of Solitude”


#4805

WHEN WE FACE TIMES OF DARKNESS

“This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.”  (1 John 1:5 NIV)

“In Him there is no darkness at all. The night and the day are both alike.” (Kathleen Thomerson, from the hymn “I want to Walk as a Child of the Light”)

This phrase reminds me that God permeates everything -- the night that I fear and the morning that I welcome. God, and God’s grace, surrounds us throughout all of life -- the easy, loving parts and the hard, difficult, scary times. God lives in both the night and the day -- they are just alike to God. When we face times of darkness in our personal lives, in our families, in our community or world, God moves close to us, loving us and holding our hands even if we are not aware of it, even if we think God is absent…

When we are facing a dark night of the soul, when we are sick or grieving, when we have hurt others or have been hurt by them, we are not alone. The God of darkness and light stays beside us. And the God of darkness and light sends messengers -- messengers like you and me -- to remind us that we are not alone… We are called to be children of the light, doers, messengers to others of God’s love and grace, God’s comfort and forgiveness.

-- Beth A. Richardson in “Child of the Light”

#4804

THE LANGUAGE OF THE HEART

How do you pray when you suffer or when people you love suffer? How do you pray when people you do not like (even hate?) get ahead? How do you pray when the world doesn’t make sense? How do you pray when you have some doubts or are angry at God?

I found my answer in the book of Psalms. The Psalms give us a complete picture of prayer. They take on the whole of life. They give us words for all occasions, from the height of joy to the depths of despair. The Psalms let us feel what we feel. The Psalms meet us where we are, even when our feelings are less than godly, and give us words to say to God. They are the language of the heart.

“Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. I was so foolish and ignorant -- I must have seemed like a senseless animal to You. Yet I still belong to You; You hold my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.”  (Psalm 73:21-24 NLT) 

--  Thomas C. Parker in an article entitled “Language of the Heart” in “Discipleship Journal” Issue 99


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