February 2, 2016

God Comforts Us

Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted. -- Matthew 5:4

There are many different types of grief. We think of grief mostly when we have lost a loved one. We also can grieve the loss of a pet, a job, a way of life.

There is another type of grief we don’t think of too often. It is the loss of a relationship. I’m not talking about divorce here, though that certainly does cause grief. I’m talking about what happens when people change or, maybe worse, you find out that the person you love isn’t at all who you thought they were.

A dear friend woke up last week to a new reality. The son she adores has done something unthinkable. He is in jail and will almost certainly be headed to prison because, yes, he did what he is accused of doing. She wanted so much more for her only child. When he was a teenager, she believed he would be a preacher. He took a wrong turn, then another and another and now here they are at this place. She is grief stricken.

Another friend asked for prayer for his brother. He, too, took a wrong turn into self-destruction. He faces felony theft and DUI charges. It doesn’t look good. Their family is devastated. They have been praying for this young man for such a long time and still he chose again and again the wrong path.

We can’t control the choices of others. We can’t turn things back. We can’t make people better than they are. All we can do is pray for them and ask God to strengthen us so that we don’t go down that same path.

It is tempting to sin in our efforts to save the lost. It is tempting to sin in our need for revenge against the anguish they have caused us. It is tempting to walk away and forget to care.

Instead we seek God’s comfort and ask Him to give us the strength and guidance to make the right choices for everyone. We trust that He is near no matter what the circumstances. We trust that He has a plan for all to be saved and for His own glory. We rest is His arms knowing that He will comfort us as we mourn what could have been.