Sometimes bad news breaks like wave upon wave upon the shore--relentless pounding, one wave engulfing the next. So your prayer list about significant suffering grows longer: Two friends with cancer. A young man in a coma. A burn victim. A little girl with lymphoma. A miscarriage. A car accident.
And the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history.
How do you process it? How do you pray? With honesty, yes. But with gospel-centered hope, too. This tsunami of sin and suffering engulfs us all. There is no way out. At least not in our own wisdom or strength. But the good news in suffering and devastation is that it has been redeemed by the Holy One most offended by it all. God's mercies--oh, the bliss of this thought!--never come to an end.
My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD."Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth.Let him sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
let him put his mouth in the dust--
there may yet be hope;
let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.For the Lord will not cast off forever,
but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
for he does not willingly afflict
or grieve the children of men. --Lamentations 3:17-33
The hands that were pierced for the sins of the world are the very hands that will one day wipe the tears from the faces that are turned toward Him in trust and adoration for His salvation. This had been promised long before Jesus ever lived.
He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." --Isaiah 25:8-9
This tender display of heaven's compassion is portrayed twice in the book of Revelation. No more tears, no more death. God will make all things new. Hallelujah!
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.--Revelation 7:17
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."--Revelation 21:1-5
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
(With deepest condolences to the families of the slain Virginia Tech students.)
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