The Well
The Well |
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Connecting Hope to the Hurting | |
Tuesday
September 16, 2008
Three of Job's friends were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and
Zophar the Naamathite. When they heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got
together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. When they saw
Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore
their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to demonstrate their
grief. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. And no
one said a word, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.
Job 3:11-13
This is ministry. No one is trying to fill the silence with empty words. No one is trying to make light of his situation. No one is preaching. Just as it says, "…they saw that his suffering was too great for words." Maybe this is where the old saying, "Less said, best said" came from!
Following my attempted suicide in 1993, I learned what ministry was NOT! I found it amazing at the number of people who called me to tell me how wrong I was in what I did, as if I didn't know. Next to that were the number of people who called to inform me that I would have gone to hell had God allowed me to die, as if I wasn't condemning myself already. But what really got me was when someone called me and sang to me – that was pitiful.
Yet, there was hope. One friend brought me bath aids, things that encouraged my hope. Another friend brought me candy. These gifts were nice, but the best thing they did was simply come and sit with me in my pain. They were not afraid that my depression might be contagious.
Too many times when we go to the side of a hurting person, we feel that we have to say something to make their burden lighter. Well, it is not a good thing to make a grieving person's burden lighter – they need to grieve. Grief is a gift from God. Barbara Johnson's comment in the book "Joy Breaks" is enlightening: "A study at Harvard University showed that people who cried more in response to their grief were less likely to suffer heart attacks after losing a loved one. (Previous studies showed that the risk of suffering a heart attack after such a loss is fourteen times greater than normal.) Imagine: tears can break the chain of chemical events that lead to heart disease and brain damage."
Tears are a gift from God. During a painful time recently, God showed me that He counted my tears as an offering of praise and prayer. When I felt that message from Him in my Spirit, my depression began to lift and praise came easily and naturally. Once we swim through our tears, praising God in the process, we encounter hope.
It was during that time that I genuinely discovered who my true friends were. Friends and tears are God's gifts to us in times of despair because it is at the point of despair that God is able to help us become better not bitter and turn our woes to wows.
Holy Father, I stand amazed that You receive my prayer of tears as incense before Your throne. You are beyond my comprehension and that propels me into praise. Thank You for the valleys!
