Grace in Hard Places

   Somewhere along the course of my growing up years in the church, my parents, Sunday School teachers and pastors taught me to recite for memory The Lord's Prayer, The Apostle's Creed, and the 23rd Psalm.  In fact, in high school French class, I learned the 23rd Psalm in French for memory.  It was a class assignment and I can still repeat it.  However, in recent days, I have found this Psalm more comforting than merely an assignment to memorize.
     As Christians, we tend to think of life as being sequential.  When God allows testing, trials or trouble into our life, we tend to think He will follow it by carrying us away to the green pastures where we will rest by still waters, eat at a lavish banquet, have an overflowing cup and spend eternity with the Lord.  While these things surely do come to pass in the life of a believer, the truth is that it doesn't happen after a difficult time but often occurs while we are going through the pain.
     Never have I found this to be more true than during the time that we lost our grandson.  Receiving the news of his unexpected death was a blow to us all.  Yet, underneath these painful circumstances were the Everlasting Arms of God.  The Good Shepherd of our souls held us up and walked us to the green pasture to rest.  God provided more than a lavish feast by bringing in lots of food to assist when the family most needed it, and when the time came to lay this child to rest and celebrate his life, the Lord walked with us through the valley of the shadow of death.  God's comfort has been amazing as He has used scores of His people to bring comfort, care, and provision all along the way.
     Whether in the loss of a loved one or some other traumatic circumstance, we can count on God's presence with us to guide, guard and lead us.  It has been my experience throughout life that when I am facing a trial I seek out God more in prayer and look to His Word for the answers.  As I do both of these things, His peace helps me find the strength I need.
     In addition to the 23rd Psalm, a pastor introduced me to scripture I cling too during the trials of life.  It is found in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5:  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also is our comfort abundant in Christ...."  This is a biblical pay it forward for us.  We are to help and comfort others with the same comfort with which Christ has brought us comfort.  Notice that Paul wrote that we share the sufferings of Christ which are ours in abundance.  There is no denying the difficulties of walking in this world when we are citizens of heaven.  However, Christ supplies the abundant comfort.  He is our "Good Shepherd" who leads us beside the still waters and allows us rest along the way in the green pastures just when we need it.
     During my life, I have come to realize that while we are not spared sorrow or loss, God is, at the same time, filling us with the Holy Spirit, the ultimate comforter promised to us by Jesus before His ascension.  Our greatest time of experiencing Psalm 23 or 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 is not after we get past the trials but during them.  It is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit that fills our cup to overflowing at the time when we are not certain we can go on.  That type of comfort is beyond any understanding to those outside of Christ.
     None of us look for tragedies in life.  However, when they do come along, remember that God will provide for us the sustenance, quiet and protection we need to see us through.  Even more, He will walk with us through the valley of the shadow of death.  I have seen this and know it to be true.  I encourage you if you have never memorized the 23rd Psalm or 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 to do so during this time of reflection before Easter.  There is such joy in hiding God's Word in your heart.  Selah!


Photography courtesy of Aaron Thayer at Naples Botanical Gardens

Tears in a Bottle

     One of the reasons I so love the Psalms is that they represent a wide range of emotions but always point to the God of our salvation.  Though they may begin with the psalmist crying out, they end with  praising God for His answers and His hope.  I can identify with that.

Replica of an ancient tear bottle

     In Psalm 56:8, David writes comforting words:  "You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle Are they not in Your book?"  Here David acknowledges that God knows about our restless nights when we cannot sleep and He keeps our tears of sorrow in His bottle.  What a beautiful picture of a tender Father who cares for the sorrow of His children.  In fact, God even records them in His book.  Now that is intimate knowledge! 

     Within this past month, not only has our family lost a child but there have been many other losses within our church family and in the community at large.  Grief is something that comes to all and everyone deals with it on their own timetable.  So often, well meaning people try to hurry up the process by telling someone that it is better to move on now.  While we know that life does go on, we still have a longing for the one that brought us joy and is now departed.  It takes time for the wound to heal.  I liken it to having foot surgery and someone telling you to go out and take a hike the next day on your surgical foot.  We all know that would be too painful and probably do a lot of damage.  Instead, we need to allow the incision to heal properly.  We cannot rush our physical bodies, so why do some people think we should be able to heal emotional loss overnight?

     David experienced many losses in his life.  He lost the child that he and Bathsheba had together.  He was pursued by his son Absalom who was eventually put to death by David's own soldiers.  These losses were real, searing and brought many tears.  However, David knew that it was God who would catch his tears in a bottle.  God cares about the sorrow we have and walks with us through the hard places.  He does not disdain us or call us weak if we have not recovered within a certain time period.

     According to Gill's Exposition of the Bible, it was not unusual for mourners to collect their tears in a bottle and bury the bottle with the person who had died.  This was a means of showing the sorrow of those left behind.  God records those tears in His book and Gill goes on to write:

     "They are in his book of purposes; they are all appointed by him, their kind and nature, their measure and duration, their quality and quantity; what they shall be, and how long they shall last; and their end and use: and they are in his book of providence, and are all overruled and caused to work for their good; and they are in the book of his remembrance; they are taken notice of and numbered by him, and shall be finished; they shall not exceed their bounds. These tears will be turned into joy, and God will wipe them all away from the eyes of his people. "(http://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/psalms/56.htm)   I love that description.  God knows and has appointed how many tears we shall cry and to what purpose all that has come to pass has in His providence.  In other words, nothing  is wasted during the grieving process.  God has a plan and a purpose for all that happens to us.    

     David recognized that God was trustworthy for earlier in Psalm 56, he wrote in verse 3-4:  "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.  In God whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid what can flesh do to me?"  Then, he concludes the Psalm in verse 13 by writing:  For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life."  Always, David ends with hope and even in the middle of his pain, he gives praise to God.

     For those of us going through the process at this time in our lives, we must be patient with ourselves.  God is overseeing even the tears that we cry and the loss we feel.  He cares and is recording it.  Better still, He is trustworthy and one day, as He promised, He will wipe away all our tears and death will be no more!  I find encouragement in that knowing that weeping only lasts for a night but "joy comes in the morning".  Selah!