ThursdayDecember
29
This
is what the Lord says: “A cry
is heard in Ramah—deep anguish and bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be
comforted—for her children are gone.” But now this is what
the Lord says: “Do not weep
any longer, for I will reward you,” says the Lord. “Your children will come back to you from the
distant land of the enemy. There is hope for your future,”
says the Lord. “Your children will
come again to their own land. I have heard Israel saying, ‘You
disciplined me severely, like a calf that needs training for the yoke. Turn me again to you and restore me, for you
alone are the Lord my God. I turned away from
God, but then I was sorry. I kicked
myself for my stupidity! I was
thoroughly ashamed of all I did in my younger days.’ Jeremiah
31:15-19(NLT)
I’m not at all certain I’ve known
of anything more heartbreaking than parents weeping for a lost child. Shortly before Elizabeth and I packed our belongings
and took our three young children off to seminary, a young couple in our Sunday
School group lost their only child to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Sudden
infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the unexplained death, usually during sleep, of
a seemingly healthy baby less than a year old. SIDS is sometimes known as crib
death because the infants often die in their cribs.[ii]
It was the first time I had
ever known someone who lost a child.
They were so devastated, there were no words of comfort to offer, only weeping with those who weep.[iii] All the phrases that we may have packed away
to utter at those times of indescribable loss are useless. Only quiet
presence can be healing in such profound loss.
For the nation of Israel,
conquered and destroyed by their Babylonian enemies (modern day Iraq), weeping
was the order of the day. Mothers and
fathers mourned the death, or capture of their children 24/7/365 – there was nonstop
grief and emptiness of hearts. To be on the
losing side of a war is to marry tragedy, pain and hoplessness.
How do you get over your loss
when every neighbor you know is also weeping?
And then the weeping prophet,
Jeremiah says that God was saying: Weep no more. Easier said
than done.
But God was announcing the
end of Israel’s season of discipline; their unruliness as God’s children had
turned to repentance and prayer. Their
hearts were crying out to their Heavely Father to draw them close – to forgive
their sins and heal their land. And God
was not only hearing, He was gladly ready to receive them, heal their pain, and
restore their future.
For anyone who has suffered
great loss, new circumstances cannot erase history. A child lost to death will not come back in
this life; a spouse buried will not be forgotten. In time, for those who embrace their grief and
learn life-changing lessons that loss will teach, mourning does give way to
gladness. Memory of pain ultimately is
tempered and blessed with the joy of God’s comfort. Meaning again returns, renewed and
purposeful, as healing from loss integrates with opportunity to embrace life’s
future. You find you can go on!
For You Today
The old
saying is to be trusted:
When it
comes to trouble, you’re either
in it,
just coming
out of it,
or about to
go through it.
Dreading
future trouble won’t head it off, and despising current trouble won’t help you
learn a thing. So praise and trust God
in your troubles and when you’ve got no troubles! Weep for your sins, and keep
praying; God heard Israel, He will hear your cry as well.
You chew on that as
you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
NOTES
