A Response to Sorrow and Grief - Purity 1253

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of the dark silhouettes of trees stripped bare against, set against the green fields and a pleasant post-sunset sky comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene while going the last mile down Waite Road to my countryside home last Saturday. Well, it's Saturday, and I commend— commented yesterday on how suddenly the— how— on how suddenly those green fields, uh, have been transformed into frozen tundra. And have— and today that transition has been accompanied by the bitter chill of mourning as a member of my extended family appears to have suffered a second heartbreaking loss to their immediate family in a year's time. The first anniversary of a loss is bad enough, but to have it marked by another unexpected and tragic loss makes one wonder how to carry on. Unfortunately, I know from suffering the loss of my infant son Holden in 2022 that there is really nothing that we can say to take away someone's pain and grief. The best advice we can offer to help someone who is mourning the loss of a loved one is to offer your presence and whatever help to them that they are willing to accept. Offering to help with funeral arrangements and providing meals are acts of kindness that are, that are a blessing to the mourning. But just being there physically, or by just sending words of condolence and prayers to the grieving, is a support that is usually greatly appreciated. And not forget and not forgotten by the grieving. And even though I won't be storming into that— into this situation, I am storming the gates of heaven in prayer this morning for this person's healing, comfort, and peace. And if you don't know what to pray in situations you can't imagine or find hard to understand, "Oh Lord, help them" isn't a bad place to start. And even though it is really hard to believe in times like this. I know that God is there because he is close to the brokenhearted. Psalm 34:18 tells us, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed." Psalm 34 is a psalm of David, a man who became very familiar with grief. Ironically, these words that testified of the Lord's presence with the afflicted came before some of the major losses of his life. In hindsight, it could be hypothesized that God— that the Lord was preparing David for the trials that he was to face and teaching David to always trust in the Lord and to stay in his presence. Psalm 34 was written in the context of suffering the rejection of people he loved and being in fear for his life. David was on the outs with King Saul, who literally had tried to kill him, And in the immediate context of this psalm, David wisely pretended to be insane to avoid being killed by Israel's enemy Achish, king of Gath. Psalm 34 is an anthem of praise to the LORD because even though David was in the midst of great trials, he knew that the LORD had rescued him and was with him always. It was a lesson that David took with him throughout his life. Comfort him in his greatest pain. Later, when David was king and this— and the son that he had with Bathsheba became ill, he pleaded with God, fasting and praying on his son's behalf that he would be healed. But the child died. Fearing what David might do, his servants were hesitant to tell him that his son was dead. But when David heard his son was dead, Scripture tells us that he arose, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. The servants were shocked. Shouldn't David be sorrowful or even angry at God? David explained in 2 Samuel 12:22-23, and he said, while the child was alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, "Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?" But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. The text then tells us that he comforted Bathsheba in their loss and the pain of their grief, and from the pain of their grief they were blessed with another son. Solomon. But David and Bathsheba's blessing shouldn't distract us from what David did and said in response to the pain of his loss. He rose and worshiped the Lord even in his pain because David knew that his departed son was with the Lord. He might be gone from this earth, but he wasn't dead. The Word of God tells us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And David knew that God was gracious and his child was alive and well in God's kingdom, and that because of David's covenant with the Lord, he would see his son again. David said, 'I shall go to him,' because he knew the Lord and he knew it was true. That may seem like cold comfort in the face of a loss, but that is the truth about our lives. We, that, uh, about our lives. We, we will face the Lord at the hour of our death. And Jesus told us, uh, told his disciples that he prepares a place for those who trust in him. As bitter as the pain of loss may be, death has lost its sting for those who have put their faith in Jesus. I can't help take away the pain of the separation, of the loss of our loved ones for those who grieve. But I can tell you that God is good. He does what is right, and he can help us when we go to him. So yea, that we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, keep walking and talking with God, because the author of life, the Lord, loves us, is close to us when our hearts break, and takes away our tears and pains forever. In his kingdom. He gives us a new and eternal life when we put our faith in Jesus, and he will comfort and guide us all the days of this life when we surrender to his plan for our lives and follow where he leads. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference, um, for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on Communication, Gossip, and Lying. And today's verses are Proverbs 8:6-8, and they say: Listen, for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things, for my mouth will speak truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are with righteousness; nothing crooked or perverse is in them. Today's verses fall under the second point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on communication, gossip, and lying. And that second point is: Commit yourself to speaking only what is right and true. Today's verses encourage us to speak of excellent things that are righteous and true. There are a lot of hard truths in the Bible: the exclusivity of Jesus Christ to save, The reality of the spiritual forces of darkness, hell for the unbeliever, and the moral guidelines that tell us about sin can all be tough topics of discussion. It's a lot easier to lie and tell people it doesn't matter what you do in life or what you believe in, in the end. But I can't do it. The grief I had over the loss of my infant son made me angry, and I basically rejected Christianity Christianity because I really didn't understand it, and I certainly didn't like what it had to say about sin and the possibility that my sins would send me to hell. My rebel's attitude also caused me to prescribe to an atheistic worldview where I saw the world as chaos that was destined for extinction, and that all forms of religion were merely sentimentality and man's attempt to control one another. My loss didn't help those attitudes. But in the depths of my grief, although I thought I had seen the stark reality that the world was a cold, dangerous, and forbidding place, I felt a presence that I didn't quite understand that somehow told me I wasn't alone. I think I thought it was just that— stark reality where the illusions of society and safety are stripped away to see that this is all there is. So I started searching, started a searching journey to just look at life itself and to try to discern the meaning of it all. I looked at creation and the interconnectedness of everything, and although I was denying the guy, the God who made it all, my ponderings and experiences and maybe my hope caused me to believe that death was not the end, and I saw the goodness that lies in the experience of our lives that is that much— that more valuable because of the reality of death. I thought my insights and wisdom would display that I got it, and that somehow my understanding would guarantee me a good place in whatever was beyond my life. I never called it God though. I was so angry over my loss that I more or less refused to believe in a personal God and preferred to think of the agent of creation, or karma, or whatever, as an impersonal force like spiritual laws that would reward the good with good and cause the evil to suffer for their ignorance. Well, I know now that even though I had discovered a lot of truths about life in general, I didn't know the truth. By refusing to believe in God, the Creator of all things, how could I? But for reasons I don't understand and refuse to question, God was gracious to me, and even though I was going the wrong way, further into darkness spiritually, He woke me up and used a radio gospel message to show me the truth of Jesus Christ, something I thought I knew all about, but something I never really knew in my heart. The truth is that the Bible is true, that Jesus really is who he says he is, the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father, God the Creator, except through him. I know this to be true intellectually and experientially in so many ways that I can't adequately tell you about it, although I will continually write and speak about it to try to encourage others to seek it for themselves. And so, like today's verses in Proverbs encourages us, I will speak the excellent things. I will speak of the truth because it is the truth, and the stakes of knowing it are life and death. I don't care if it offends you. Sin is sin, but it can be repented of and forgiven. But in order to receive the forgiveness of sin and the power to overcome it, we need to put our faith in Jesus first. We don't clean ourselves up to go to God. That's what we always get wrong. We don't earn our salvation. It's a free gift that comes by faith in Jesus Christ. After we are saved, after we put our faith in Jesus, we are clean and we can turn from our sins for good, even when, when we believe and follow him. So, believe, follow Him, and live, and you too will speak of the excellent things that are true. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. It is a collection of devotional journals from 1940 and '41. And this resource prompts us to read scripture. Today's scripture prompting is Matthew 13, and Alford shares from it, verse 58, which says, "He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief." And Stephen Alford writes, "What an amazing yet solemn verse this is. Purge me, O Lord, that I may never be guilty of such unbelief." Notice that the verse does not say He could not, but rather that He did not. It was not a case that His power was limited on this particular occasion, but rather that Christ does not work in the presence of blatant or open unbelief. Unbelief is the preeminent fruit of the flesh. It is that which emanates from man's corrupt nature. And he quotes Romans 8:7, which says, the carnal mind is enmity against God. And he ends these— his devotional journal by praying, give me the grace to crucify the natural man in me, Lord, until all unbelief is removed. Amen. And yeah, uh, if we don't believe, we won't receive. I know it's a, you know, very trite saying, but it's the truth. If you don't believe in Jesus, you won't receive eternal life. If you don't believe you've been set free from sin, you'll walk in your sins all the days of your life. You know, that's it. Our faith sets us free. Our faith gives us eternal life and the forgiveness of sins. Our faith, you know, gives us new spiritual life. When we put our faith in Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit in us. And he gives us the power to do what is right, to repent, and to know the truth. And so, so we encourage, um, put your faith in Jesus and follow him. He will comfort you all the days of your life and guide you in the way you should go, and he'll be there when everything falls apart, when no one else is. So my heart goes out to the grieving, and I have grieving friends beyond my immediate family that are still walking in darkness and depression and worry because they've been struck by the losses they've suffered in life. And, um, they might know the Lord, they're, they're still suffering, and it's my heart for them to, to trust in the Lord and to look forward We look forward in life to the next thing, and we look forward to our eternity in God's kingdom where everything will be revealed and all pain and all sorrow and weeping will be put away forever. So that's the good, good, good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it's good news that we can hold on to today and have peace and joy in today when we focus on that above the pain of our personal losses, um, we can have joy knowing that God always gets it right. And if our loved ones believe in Jesus, we'll see them one day, and we'll see God face to face in his kingdom. So, uh, today's Saturday. Um, I hope everyone who doesn't have to work has a great day, and I pray for those who do have to work to get through it as soon as possible. To enjoy the peace that comes at the end of doing what you're supposed to do. So don't gripe about your life, so the losses you've had. Remember, there's a God above it all who's good and holy and will, and will bless you when you follow him. Let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, thank you for the, the comfort that comes from knowing you and knowing that my sins are forgiven and that I have eternal life. And that, uh, you always get things right, and I can trust you and stay with you forever. Lord, we pray for our friends who are listening, uh, that you would come alongside them and comfort them in their walk, and come alongside them in their prayer requests and help them, Lord. Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, help us to know you more. And guide us in the way we should go. So all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, Lord. We thank you, we praise you, we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.