Life is a terribly fragile experience for most of us. When it is problem free, most of us
with a few decades of life under our belts know from experience that it won’t stay that
way. There are difficulties, but it isn’t these I’m talking about; it is the life-changing
perspective shifting moments we all wish would never happen. The calls that come
from police and hospitals and our own children in the middle of the night, or at dinner
time while the hot meal waits for the man that won’t arrive to consume it, are the ones I
mean. The doctor’s blank face and bad news, the loss of a precious heartbeat, or the
shock of heartbreaking betrayal discovered, all move us in an instant from one reality to
another. No matter how difficult that former reality was, it becomes rosy and longed for
the moment it slips out of our grasp. Tragedy is all-consuming and seems impossible to
overcome. Indeed, I do not know how the unbeliever weathers the massive storms that
beat us over the head and drag us down. Without a savior, where is the hope? With
Jesus, there is so much hope! His word is full of assurance. I love Psalm 121,
Deuteronomy 31:8, 1 Peter 5:7, Hebrews 13:5-6, Romans 8:28, Philippians 4:6-7,
Psalm 55:22, and many others. Sometimes, when you’re in the middle of a life changing
trial, you can’t even focus, and all you can see or imagine is that moment when
everything changed, or the future, a bleak wilderness stretching infinitely and joylessly
in front of you. Somehow those juxtapositions of life and death, married in unsavory
happenings, are forever seared in our memory banks. We can remember everything
about that moment; it’s breathlessness, what we were wearing, how we were
positioned, and the voice that brings us bad news. We can hear the tone, and imagine
the face of the other person, and we torture ourselves with our visions of a future
forever changed and stark, over which we have no controlling interest. This is the midst,
but we are not meant to stay there, and praise the Lord, the time spent there is never
forever, even if the circumstance is such that its maladies drag on for many seasons,
such as drastically failing health or serious family problems.
Thank the Lord that he measures out grace bigger than pain. Thank the Lord that he
measures out mercy beyond our ugly humanity. Thank the Lord that he measures out
joy beyond our understanding. Thank The Lord that he never changes. Thank you Lord,
that you are sufficient. You are sufficient.
A song that has recently ministered to me says it well, “Not for a moment did You
forsake me.”
May our vision be extended beyond the midst, beyond the pain, beyond the struggle, to
the testimony. May we remember the end result is God’s glory and his beautiful picture
and plan. In the midst, may God equip us to share Him and the ways He is moving. May
we be shored up with by all the circumstances that show God’s movements in our lives,
and never blinded to them.
Someday the suffering will be blunted with the gentle pressure of time. Never gone or
forgotten, it will nonetheless become less and less all-consuming, until it becomes
bearable. Even then, may we still rest on Jesus unwavering strength. At that time, when
we are able to share and unfold our own story for others benefit, does the process come
full circle, and God’s plan become evident. If we stubbornly hold on to our pain, or turn
our healing into bitter emptiness, and avert our eyes from God’s working in our journey,
than we rob God of the glory and we lose sight of our own testimony, so that God can
not use it through us to help others. This I know, if you are having a trial, you are
building a testimony.
Life is a hard and fragile thing, but with Jesus, life is also a beautiful and hopeful thing.
Share it.
Oh, and here’s a link to the amazing song I talked about. Share that too. 🙂