Hope In Sorrow
Near the end of January, I received a text message from Lino asking if I had seen the new February issue of TableTalk. I often hear from Lino with encouraging messages or scanned images of pages from articles or books he reads. I had received my issue of the magazine, but I only glanced at it and put it in the drawer as I had not finished the January issue. I cannot say I looked forward to reading it because the subject for February was one word: Sadness.
I knew what Lino had in mind. It was me. Lino receives the bulletin each week and too often I have heard the remarks from others that my comments reflect grief. I tend to write what I feel on the day, which may need an apology. Perhaps there was something in the February issue that would be helpful to get me through this long sadness that hangs over my head every day. It is not like me to be excited to read about my problems and neither is a book, pamphlet, magazine, article, or anything else about sadness something I want to read.
Since February 1 was a Sunday, the daily readings in TableTalk began on Monday the 2nd. The daily readings were a study in James and did not focus on sadness. It is the forward material that has seven articles on the subject. I determined to skip them and read only the dailies. I found it hard to do, and so with a gulp I wandered into the first article. From then on, I read one article each day. The article “We Grieve with Hope” is the one that helped the most. I have been teaching the Bible for over fifty years, and it is not as if what I read in the magazine was unknown to me. Sometimes the hardest heart to reach with preaching isyour own. When I say I want to apologize for casting a pall of sorrow over the congregation, I mean it as an apology for my weakness. My thoughts are I am of little help to you if I cannot stay strong within myself.
The article on hope comforted me and has spun an about face in my thinking. There were sentences such as these: “Jesus is not honored by a pretense to be rid of sorrows. What is more, He appoints for us sorrows and griefs in this world—and with them, His sustaining grace to keep us afloat. This means that Jesus is honored in our lives not just even in our sadness but especially in our sadness.” My take from this and other comments is that sadness is godly intentional. We are not intentionally spared; God intentionally sends sorrow. It is the deepest sorrow that causes us to turn to Christ because there is no one who understands it more. Dependence on Him is a form of glorifying Him. The puzzle is why I can interpret Isaiah 53:4-5, or Matthew 5:4, or Romans 8:26 for others, but not for me?
As usual I ran out of space before thoughts. I want to squeeze in one more. How many times have I taught about prayer? Trying to make all prayers fit into an ACTS acrostic straightjackets expression and intimacy. I have learned more about prayer in the past weeks than in my whole life. The February issue of the magazine touched me deeply on this. I just need to talk to the Father. I do not need to check boxes or keep an outline in front of me to make sure I touch it all. It is at these times that I need to focus on one thing. How can I explain to God how I feel and what I need? It is not a King James conversation. Neither is it a prayer in a text message. When you feel your prayers are obligations to meet and you want to get them over, that is not a conversation on a personal relieving level.
Bottom line—there is no sin, no guilt, no failure, no lack of faith in grief and sorrow. As Paul said, you are simply fine if you are sure not to sorrow as others who have no hope. Sure, and steadfast hope anchors all sorrows to final resolution.
Pastor V. Mark Smith