Job 20:1-22:30; 2 Corinthians 1:1-11; Psalm 40:11-17; Proverbs 22:2-4
I used to think my mother exaggerated her
acquaintance. "Don't stand too near the side of the road. I
know a man who was killed changing a tire." "Be careful when
you fly. I know a mother whose son died in a small-plane
accident." "I know so and so; I know such and such."
Seemed a little too convenient, ya know?
I no longer think this. I have realized that living long(ish) in the community of believers makes one privy to any number of pains and sufferings. So many have cried, "I am poor and needy....You are my help and my deliverance. O my God, do not delay" (Ps. 40:17). I know this cry; I know people who have uttered this cry. Adultery. Debilitating illness. Abandonment. Death of a spouse. Death of a child. Divorce. Job loss. Addiction. I can see their names written in my on-going One Year Bible journal, a record of my prayers for them. I know their faces; I hear their voices.
Part of what I have prayed for these men and women - and what I will continue to pray - is that "the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles" (2 Cor. 1:3-4) will comfort them with a comfort that overflows in like measure with their sufferings (see vs. 5).
There are as many happy endings to the griefs named above as there are unhappy and many that are both. In each case, though, as they have turned toward God, they have found deliverance. Many (not all) fulfill the hope of the psalmist: as they have sought the Lord, they have rejoiced and found gladness (Ps. 40:16).
Lord, even if we are not in the midst of crisis, we are yet completely, totally poor and needy. You are the God of the broken, and we are those broken. Comfort us in our troubles. Thank you for knowing what it is to suffer and grieve. Cause us to seek you in the midst of our pain, as Job does. Amen.
I no longer think this. I have realized that living long(ish) in the community of believers makes one privy to any number of pains and sufferings. So many have cried, "I am poor and needy....You are my help and my deliverance. O my God, do not delay" (Ps. 40:17). I know this cry; I know people who have uttered this cry. Adultery. Debilitating illness. Abandonment. Death of a spouse. Death of a child. Divorce. Job loss. Addiction. I can see their names written in my on-going One Year Bible journal, a record of my prayers for them. I know their faces; I hear their voices.
Part of what I have prayed for these men and women - and what I will continue to pray - is that "the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles" (2 Cor. 1:3-4) will comfort them with a comfort that overflows in like measure with their sufferings (see vs. 5).
There are as many happy endings to the griefs named above as there are unhappy and many that are both. In each case, though, as they have turned toward God, they have found deliverance. Many (not all) fulfill the hope of the psalmist: as they have sought the Lord, they have rejoiced and found gladness (Ps. 40:16).
Lord, even if we are not in the midst of crisis, we are yet completely, totally poor and needy. You are the God of the broken, and we are those broken. Comfort us in our troubles. Thank you for knowing what it is to suffer and grieve. Cause us to seek you in the midst of our pain, as Job does. Amen.
- Sarah Marsh
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