Psalm 139:23-24 NASB - "23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
When we suffer loss it is easy for us to lose touch with our own souls. We compartmentalize to survive. We shove our most painful and struggling parts into boxes and seal them off because of the need to function day by day in as normal a way as possible. Sometimes it is hard for us to really reopen these boxes or be in touch with our emotions.
Yet, we need to really know what is going on. Therefore, to ask the Lord to search us and bring to the surface any painful, grief filled, and hurt aspects of our lives is a vital prayer. We can only seek help, healing, and hope to those aspects of our lives that we see are weak, harmed, and confused. Only those who see they are in despair will value hope.
So part of the process of dealing with our loss is to try to get honest with God. Our desire must be that the Lord will push aside all of our social masks and denials so that we can be before HIM as we are with pretense. We need to see how we may not be handling our losses in faith and how doubts may be growing in us as a cancer. Only in this position can we begin to process and lament our deep losses before the LORD.
The everlasting way connects us to the eternal. By being heavenly minded we can keep our loss in the perspective of the larger love and plan of God in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 3:1-2 NASB - "1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth."
So to manage the pain within us at this moment in time we must remember the eternal love of God for us in the person of Christ Jesus. We must see that ultimately we are promised the help and hope of the eternal kingdom bought with the blood of the Messiah.
This balance between asking God to help us look within and see ourselves as we are and at the same time remembering that there is a “everlasting way” and the truth of the kingdom of heaven are going to make all the pain of our lives eventually work for God’s glory and gain.
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Prayer
Lord, help me be honest with you and myself. Come an show me the real condition of my soul and heart. Let me be honest with you about my hurts, pain, doubts, and despair. In your presence let me seek the healing, help, and hope I need to grow into a mature faith. Help me remember the eternal reality of your victory on the cross and let me see all my struggles in the context of your unending love and promises. Amen
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