So many in need of comfort. . . .

  

Before going to bed last night, I watched the news and still feel heavy at what has happened. The extreme flash flooding in Texas has taken more than 100 lives. Twenty-seven of those were young girls at a Christian camp. One of the search and rescue people reported finding a child’s Bible and seeing its underlined verses and notes. He told how this broke his heart and he sobbed for a long time. 

Two girls and their grandparents died. A mom and dad are grieving the loss of two generations. I don’t know any of these people, but am feeling a slice of their horrible pain. Today brings sorrow and tears and prayers. How can the survivors and families of this tragedy be comforted?

This is only one news event, so I looked for statistics and found that approximately 150,000 people die each day worldwide. This translates to roughly 1.78 deaths per second, 107 deaths per minute, and 6,390 deaths per hour. Age-related causes account for about two-thirds of these deaths, with heart disease and cancer at the top of the list. Accidents come next and the statistics go on without saying anything about flash floods, not that this omission is a comfort.

The Bible gives me what I already know, not from loss like what is happening due to storms like TX and the one that hit NC, but from personal pain from other situations. God says:

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)

These verses are my prayers for those who survive and grieve. Yet God also speaks about those who experience the horror and do not survive. May these thoughts comfort broken hearts as survivors think of what their loved ones experienced at the end of their lives. 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. (Isaiah 43:2)

A few years ago my husband was deathly ill. He survived, yet tells of thinking, “Lord, here I come” — not in fear but in peace. This speaks to me too. The day will come when each person walks through that valley and the Spirit of God says His presence holds our hands. That is our comfort and will be the comfort of those who remain and in whom the Spirit dwells.

What about those not in relationship with Christ through faith? God is not mean. He says He is near to the brokenhearted. He blesses those who mourn. We have no affirmation about the eternal destiny of each of those who die, but we do know that those who cry out to Him in the last moments of their lives could hear Him say, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” Such is the grace of God.

PRAY: Jesus, even as a faraway bystander, I feel grief. The pictures on the news bring viewers closer to the people who are gone and those who sob on the sidelines. Some of my friends will not watch the news, yet I don’t want to protect my heart with ignorance of the suffering outside of my little world. Help me pray and hold those whose hearts are broken before Your throne of mercy and grace. May You be near to them and bind up wounds that are beyond all other comforts. You alone know what to do. 

Everyone needs encouragement

 

READ Acts 13–16

God gave Paul a co-worker. The apostles nicknamed Barnabas “son of encouragement.” These chapters tell how together they experienced receptivity and opposition as they shared the gospel in their travels. They were put on pedestals (reluctantly), persecuted, and led by the Holy Spirit. They dealt with legalism, hidden motivations, evil spirits and being tossed in prison. In all of it, the Lord was with them.

I used these chapters as prayer prompts. My circumstances differ, yet I feel the need for encouragement as I rebuke evil in the lives of those who have been hoodwinked by the enemy and are living in darkness. I discourage legalism in groups so bound up in rules that they seem to have forgotten their objectives. I need wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit. Division happens as will more false teaching, perhaps persecution and even being put on a pedestal at times, which I do not want.

For me, it seems easy to focus on the negatives. While I cannot ignore them, I’m encouraged by these positive verses:

Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. (Acts 13:12)

 . . . the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath . . . . and many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who . . . urged them to continue in the grace of God. The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord . . .  And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region . . . . and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:42–52)

Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. (Acts 14:1)

When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God . . . . And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. (Acts 14:21–27)

So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. (Acts 15:3–4)

As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. (Acts 16:4–5)

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them . . . . One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us. (Acts 16:4–15)

Paul . . . turned and said to the (evil)  spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour. (Acts 16:18)

The jailer put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened . . . . the jailer . . . . trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas . . . said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family (Acts 16:29–34)

God’s Word is a great encourager, just what I needed today —  and that is another reason to keep reading it!