Over the past week, we have been lashed with several emotional hurricanes.
The slaughter of freedom fighters in Iran as symbolized by Neda, the horrific train tragedy in DC and the passing of several celebrity icons have ripped our hearts with a varying category of ferocity dependent on our personal affinity.
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Why? Why ? Why? echo through our hearts. Nothing can fully prepare us for such moments. Few thoughts can steady us , except…
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There is one that I turn to in stormy seasons like this. It comes from a life story that speaks strongly to loss, suffering, grief, hope , and renewal.
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Consider Job . . .
- You’ve lost your mules, and donkeys. The thieves made off with them.
- Your goat and cows were gone.
- Your employees were murdered.
- And to top it off, your children were crushed in a freak windstorm . All ten of them were in the local morgue.
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That actually happened. Job got all this news in one short season .
Then it got real personal, as he broke out in boils—from head to toe, like a full dose of adult chicken pox. Talk about having the full barrel of hurricane misfortune with category 5 force inflicting its devastation.
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There was no explanation , no FEMA or national guards, only the cold, chilly silence of heaven. The weight was unbearable for his wife that in her grief and despair she uttered:
“Curse God and die!”
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Somehow through the Vail of tears and pain, and with eyes of faith to see beyond the visible, Job stated,
“Shall we accept only good from God and never adversity?”
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Job grabbed on to a twig of fragile faith, and held on. One of my favorite pastor animate his strength by placing the following words in his mouth.
“GOD IS TOO KIND TO DO ANYTHING CRUEL
TOO WISE TO MAKE A MISTAKE
TOO DEEP TO EXPLAIN HIMSELF.”
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