Yesterday we learned that good friends of ours have a son who is dying. As heartbroken and distraught as we are over hearing this news, I can only imagine how this boy's parents must feel. He is their only child, and truly, after months of hoping and praying, they believed with all their heart that he would live. To find out that they have just a few short weeks more with their precious boy is devastating to say the least. Sorrow like this is a tricky thing. At once, it is all consuming and at the same time uneven and fueling a varying range of tumultuous emotions.
When we arrived at the hospital, the mother was crying out: "I am SO mad! SO MAD!!!" She pleaded with us. "Who should I be mad at?" We assured her that she could be mad at anybody she wants. Most obviously, she is mad at God. She has every right to experience the fury that accompanied this unexpected news. And even though she had no idea that she was lifting up an offering to God, Psalm 51:17 clearly states, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." And then in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11, the Bible says "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done." Their acute suffering forced them to make a choice: Would they turn to God in their time of greatest need or move away from him? Over the last few months I have watched this family turn to God and cry out to him with everything that is in them. They have been praying, reading their Bible, and attending church. Even now, they do not understand how a compassionate, loving God would let their child die. Surely a GOOD God wouldn't do that, right?
The irony is that this is precisely where God's compassion is truly evident. Sure, he COULD save the world from cancer and devastation and poverty and all the things that make us sick to our stomachs. He COULD, and one day he WILL, but for now unfortunately the world has been given over to us: "We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true--even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life."--I John 4:19-20. The good news is that Christ has overcome the world, so whether this boy lives or dies, guess what? He wins.
Did you get that? HE WINS.
Christ has overcome the world, and because we are his children, one day we will too.
Sorrow hurts. That is an understatement. There is so much pain in this world. At one time or another, all of us have uttered the words of my friend: "I am SO mad!" And like her, sometimes we aren't quite sure where to direct all that anger. Usually, God takes the brunt of it. There's so much I have yet to understand, but I remain confident that my God is a God of compassion, that I can lay down my heavy heart on the shoulder of his understanding. All we have to offer him may be a broken spirit, a contrite heart, and a soul that is weary with sorrow. We ask, "Where is God in the midst of all this suffering"? I just answered my own question. Surely that's where he is: right in the midst of it. He has to be. In this, (and how and why is a mystery), God reveals himself to us that we might believe in him and accept the free gift of salvation.
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