Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our [gracious and majestic] God;
Praise is becoming and appropriate.
He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds [healing their pain and comforting their sorrow].
He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by their names.
Great is our [majestic and mighty] Lord and abundant in strength;
His understanding is inexhaustible [infinite, boundless].
(Psalm 147:1, 3-5 AMP)
I repeatedly glanced at the tall, dignified man as I walked around the Sanctuary. We were in the time of pre-service prayer, where people gather and pray while seated or walking around. The time is sacred, with quiet music in the background, no conversation, and the desire to get our hearts and spirits ready for the upcoming worship service. “Tiny” had been standing in the back of the Sanctuary, leaning against the windows, face down and in prayer. As I walked by him I prayed for him. Loosing your wife of 40+ years last month could not have been easy. My heart hurt for him.
I’m sure this man did not want to be a widower at this young-ish age, but he is. He could be drowning in sorrow, but he is not. He has been at every church service since his wife’s funeral. Last week he picked back up the mantles of his volunteer positions, even though we would have gladly covered those roles for as long as he needed the time and space. When I asked him if he’d gone back to work yet, he replied, “Yes! Two men have come to Christ so far. We have to get the whole shop saved!”
Does he grieve her loss? Yes, of course. But he does not grieve as one who has no hope. He knows she is with Jesus. He knows that his purpose and identity are in Christ; he knows who he is and what he’s supposed to be doing. Last Sunday he stood up in front of the congregation. Someone had asked him if he still believed that prayer can lead to healing. His answer came out of a very deep, long, and hard-fought faith: Yes. “There are three types of healing, immediate/miraculous, gradual, and graduation to heaven. My wife was healed the third way, and prayer absolutely makes a difference.”
This man could have been – understandably – despondent. Yet, he was standing there testifying to the faithfulness of God to answer prayers, even when the answer wasn’t what he may have wanted.
May the witness of his life be encouraging for us. May we keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking on the doors of God with our prayers. May our faith and worship grow, even if we don’t get the answers to our prayers that we want, because God is still faithful to hear us and to respond.
Comforter God,
We sing praises to our gracious God who heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Today we pray for those who grieve the loss of a loved one. We pray that Holy Spirit would be very present to them, comforting, guiding, and giving Hope. May your Church surround those who grieve with love, grace, and whatever they need. Use these deaths for your Kingdom purposes that all may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Give your Children the deep and abiding faith to pray to you, no matter our circumstances or the outcome. Help us trust you in all things. Help us stand in faith because you are great and mighty, majestic and strong, and infinite in love. We ask these things in the strong name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, AMEN.
Now we do not want you to be uninformed, believers, about those who are asleep [in death], so that you will not grieve [for them] as the others do who have no hope [beyond this present life]. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again [as in fact He did], even so God [in this same way—by raising them from the dead] will bring with Him those [believers] who have fallen asleep in Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 AMP)
Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8 AMP)
This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (1 Timothy 2:3-6 ESV)