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. 

Jesus is Worthy . . .

 

READ 1 Samuel 1–4

This morning I’m having trouble concentrating. A while after we moved here, our next door neighbor decided to rent his house and move south. They had not yet moved into a new home when his wife was hit by a bus and died. The next people to live in their home here were renters. They stayed for several years and we enjoyed getting to know them. Last year they also moved south, but not as far. Last week, while vacationing in a US city, he was randomly attacked and killed.

Two things stand out in my memories. B and his wife C were always concerned that they bothered us with their love for loud music, so one day we told them to crank it up and come over. The sound was faint in our garage and not heard at all in our home. This created a neighborly bond.

Another bond was created during a condo association meeting when this man said to one of the other owners, “I’m a God-fearing man. Are you a God-fearing woman?” She was shocked but we were pleased to hear that he had some sort of spiritual understanding. Now he is gone, suddenly and tragically. Devastating for his wife and even my emotions are all over the place.

Trying to focus on today’s reading, the first part that strikes me is this line: “Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord.” (1 Samuel 2:12) Eli was an elderly priest. His sons were supposed to function in the same capacity but they were without a relationship with God and sinful in their ‘ministry’ in the work of the priesthood. Eli rebuked them but didn’t stop them, “but they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.”

Years prior, a childless woman named Hannah prayed for a son. Eli heard her and encouraged her that God would hear her. He did and Samuel was born. Before that, Hannah vowed to give him to the Lord’s service and God also responded when she took him to Eli. Samuel “continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man.” (2:24–26)

At this point in the story, I thought of B again, a “God-fearing man” unlike Eli’s sons and even unlike Eli who was more concerned for them than honoring the Lord.

The rest of the reading is about Samuel hearing God calling him at a time when “the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.” Did our neighbor sense that lack of vision in the life of the woman he asked if she feared God? Perhaps. We are living in a time when God is seldom mentioned or honored in the lives of many. Random killings have become a regular headline. In many issues, goodness is distained and evil is regarded as good. Like Eli’s sons, many have no knowledge of God. Doing our own thing is selfish and usually leads hurting others.

God told Samuel that He would deal with Eli’s household. Before that happened, the Scriptures say that “Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.” (3:19–21)

Then the enemies of Israel came, took the sacred Ark from Eli’s place of service and killed his two sons. When this old man heard the news, he also died.

I don’t take this to mean that B died because God was angry with him. I’ve no idea why this happened. It could be that this awful incident was the way the Lord took B home. However, I do know that this ancient family perished because they mocked God in hypocrisy and God replaced them with Samuel who proved to be a far more faithful servant.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I know death is not the end. However, crossing from life here to life with God in eternity involves death. That said, I’d rather die in my sleep than be stabbed in the street, but that is not my decision. Paul wrote about his hope that he would never be ashamed in his life as a Christian but he would be full of courage and honor Christ in his body, “whether by life or by death” because for him, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:20–21). Losing someone that we knew in such a violent and sudden way is pushing me to think of the importance of having that same attitude of living for Christ, not fearing death but realizing the importance of always being a God-fearing, God-honoring woman.