Musing About Mourning
The struggle of
miracles and mourning
Mark 2:10-11 NASB -
"10 "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on
earth to forgive sins"--He said to the paralytic, 11 "I say to you,
get up, pick up your pallet and go home.""
It has been a hard
season in life for me. My beloved wife
of thirty-seven years died after a five-month painful and difficult
struggle. In the past week two old
friends passed away from massive heart attacks.
My wife’s mother is suffering from severe dementia and memory loss. She does not even know her two daughters have
died. So this season has been very hard. I also know that some people have suffered
even more because East of Eden, grief, suffering, and loss are common and
severe.
During this same week
I was called to lead a discussion on a book called Miracles: What They Are,
Why They Happen, and How They Can Change Your Life by Eric Metaxas. This book not only defends that faith in God
doing miracles is reasonable but the second part of the book is miracle stories,
which come from the author and his friends.
So evidence for miracles is given from logic and life.
This passage in Mark
is one of several examples of the Lord doing a miracle to demonstrate the truth
of HiS authority as Messiah to be the Savior of sinners. One of the key thoughts we need to remember
is that a miracle is done not just to demonstrate power but also to reveal
something important about God and the divine plan.
The Messiah Jesus
seems to want to keep us from making to much of miracles instead of wanting to
understand God’s plan of salvation.
Matthew 16:4 NASB - "4 "An evil and
adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it,
except the sign of Jonah." And He left them and went away."
Luke 10:17-20 NASB - "17 The seventy returned
with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your
name." 18 And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven
like lightning. 19 "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on
serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will
injure you. 20 "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are
subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.""
So while the Messiah
Jesus does more miracles during his first advent in three years than anyone
else in all history, HE also wants us to keep them in proper perspective. We are not so seek them even when we believe
in them.
For those of us who
have suffered losses the truth of miracles is a difficult one. Because in our case, no miracle occurred that
turned away the power of the curse and allowed us to avoid the pain, sorrow,
and death of the rebellion against God.
Instead, we have found ourselves fully impacted by the darkness and pain
of being East of Eden. We have to
wonder, why could the Lord not have answered our prayers or healed our loved
one as HE has so for so many people, so many times. Our question becomes a loud and sad cry
“Why?”
The answer to this
question will have to come to us in a way that makes sense to us logically and
in the practical reality of life. We
will have to wrestle through this issue on our knees in prayer as well
intellectual pondering. Each person must
find his or her way to believe:
God is good,
God is great,
God is full of grace
God is with us in
this world of grief
God will use all of
our grief for gain.
Looking at the
suffering of the Messiah Jesus each of us who are mourning have to conclude the
following truth for our selves.:
“I believe like a child that
suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of
human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable
fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in
the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious
will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of
all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the
blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but
to justify all that has happened.”
Prayer:
May the Lord, grant
us a greater vision of HIS love that we may have inner peace even when no
miracle occurred when we desperately needed one. Lord,
help get your answer to our heart cry of “Why”.
Thank you for being patient with me and help me now to move forward in
my journey of grief.
No comments:
Post a Comment