Natalie Grant sings a song written by Krista Wells called “Held.” The song is about a family who loses a child just a few months old. Toward the end of the song, the writer delivers this exhortation: “Can we not wait for one hour, watching for our Savior? This is what it means to be held…”
I don’t know what that means to you, but it has driven me again and again to place my loss against the backdrop of the cross only to find my suffering pales in comparison to that of my Lord in response to my sin.
Scripture and Christ, Himself, assures us that this life will be filled with sufferings, trouble and pain of many kinds (see Jn. 16:33). I beg to differ with anyone who says that strong Christians do not suffer loss the way others do. Scripture does more to confirm grief’s necessity in our lives and the fact that grief and loss will ultimately benefit us. (Jer. 29:11, Ro. 8:18, 28, 2 Co. 1:7, Php. 3:10, 1 Pet. 2:19)
Grief can strengthen, equip and more importantly give us a more intimate and more personal relationship with the heart of God.
Grief over sin and man’s spiritual death led God to send His Son, willingly, to the cross. For God grief began over the loss of relationship with His creation and ended in the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. (Gen. 6:6, Jn. 3:16) Through the cross, God delivered to mankind the overcoming power of resurrection. (Eph. 1:18-20).
If you have been asking yourself if you can still trust God, I live to tell you “YES! You can.” He has a plan and a purpose for your life and your pain. The question that now begs to be answered is will you allow God to redeem your Loss and Suffering as He redeemed His own – with the backdrop of the cross?
“18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,” ~ Ephesians 1:18-20 (NKJV)
I don’t know what that means to you, but it has driven me again and again to place my loss against the backdrop of the cross only to find my suffering pales in comparison to that of my Lord in response to my sin.
Scripture and Christ, Himself, assures us that this life will be filled with sufferings, trouble and pain of many kinds (see Jn. 16:33). I beg to differ with anyone who says that strong Christians do not suffer loss the way others do. Scripture does more to confirm grief’s necessity in our lives and the fact that grief and loss will ultimately benefit us. (Jer. 29:11, Ro. 8:18, 28, 2 Co. 1:7, Php. 3:10, 1 Pet. 2:19)
Grief can strengthen, equip and more importantly give us a more intimate and more personal relationship with the heart of God.
Grief over sin and man’s spiritual death led God to send His Son, willingly, to the cross. For God grief began over the loss of relationship with His creation and ended in the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. (Gen. 6:6, Jn. 3:16) Through the cross, God delivered to mankind the overcoming power of resurrection. (Eph. 1:18-20).
If you have been asking yourself if you can still trust God, I live to tell you “YES! You can.” He has a plan and a purpose for your life and your pain. The question that now begs to be answered is will you allow God to redeem your Loss and Suffering as He redeemed His own – with the backdrop of the cross?
“18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,” ~ Ephesians 1:18-20 (NKJV)
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