THE KEY WORD is through…

 

God promises you will get through the waters of grief, the river of sorrow, the furnace of pain.  Somehow you will get through.  What you experience today will not last forever.

 

One encouragement here is God knows who you are.  He is your Creator, and he calls you by name (Isaiah 43.1).  You are His, and He will take care of His own.  In time of sorrow you feel unimportant and unknown.  God knows you, and you are important to him.

 

God also knows where you are.  He knows when you’re fighting the current of the river of sorrow, when you’re walking through the fiery furnace of suffering.  Others may not know what you’re experiencing.  One the outside you may have everyone believing you’re fine.  But inside you’re about to drown.  God knows — and He is there for you.

 

When Daniel’s three friends were thrown into the furnace, the king watched (Daniel 3.22-26).  And what he saw amazed him: the men were not harmed, and a fourth person was with them in the furnace.

 

God knows how you feel: alone, afraid, uncertain about the future, isolated, maybe rejected.  God made you with your emotions, and he knows how they can overwhelm and control you.  God will never condemn you for the way you feel.  Tell him how it feels — He will listen.

 

God knows what you need.  You need someone to share the pain, to walk through this long valley with you.  He promises His presence.  He also promises His love.  God gave you His Son to conquer death and give hope.

 

Live on promises, not on explanations.  Even if God explained by your loved one died, the answer wouldn’t end the heartbreak or quench the questions.  Instead of explanations, God gives promises, which keep you moving ahead, giving hope and new strength.

 

You’ll get through your grief.  It won’t end today or next month.  But there is an end.  Just face today.  Tomorrow will take care of itself.  Don’t burn today’s energies on tomorrow’s problems that aren’t here yet.

 

You’re going to make it through.  David W. Wiersbe, “Going Through,” Gone But Not Lost, 77-78

 

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;  and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.  When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.”  Isaiah 43.2

 

Mike Benson