Grief

When God sent his Son into the world, he took away all the advantages and privileges of deity. Jesus came “not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Seven hundred years before his birth, the prophet Isaiah wrote this about Jesus:

Sooner or later, everyone needs a safe place, a protected place—cover from a blasting storm. When the sleet of illness pelts your life, when the downpour of grief drenches your heart, when the winds of anxiety threaten to knock you down, you need a secret place, a hiding place to escape from those things threatening to knock the props from your life. You need the shelter of the Most High!

In our passage today, David, the man after God’s own heart, felt like he was caught in deep waters up to his neck. His feet were trying to locate a rock—a foothold—on the bottom of the stream, but he searched in vain and felt like he was sinking “in deep mire.”

Today I got word that a friend’s wife passed away from surgery complications. It was so sudden and so unexpected for this young family. Words can’t express the devastation and grief. And through our tears, we anchor our hearts in the certain hope we have in Jesus. This confidence within every true believer is confirmed day by day as we read the Bible. Our confidence is built on the imperishable Word that “remains forever” (1 Peter 1:25).

Hurt. Disappointment. Anger. Confusion. Fear. Mary was probably feeling all those emotions following the death of her brother Lazarus. She made her way to Jesus, fell at his feet, and let him know exactly what was on her mind. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:32). Those words were spoken with tears running down her cheeks and between the loud sobs of grief.

Have you trusted in Jesus, the man of sorrows, as the One who bore your sins in his body on the cross?

Whatever your present state, you can experience and enjoy (yes, enjoy) the journey with him.

For the believer, the best is always yet to come.

I am God and there is no other…. I have purposed, and I will do it.