When it comes to grief, sometimes it is impossible to sympathize with a person because you have not experienced the same level of grief. We can and should be empathetic and weep with those that weep. While we may be limited in our ability to comfort, our Savior is not. Scripture tells us that Jesus is acquainted with all our griefs and that He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He is the God of all comfort and gave us His Holy Spirit Who is our constant companion and He is called the Comforter. When we go through trials, suffering and pain, He is there to reassure and renew us.
God promises in Romans 8:28 that He is working all things together for good to the that love Him. Through difficult times, God is developing us and our relationship with Him. He is developing endurance, experience and confident expectation in His ability and goodness. (Romans 5:1-5)
I have faced some difficult times and hurt both in life and pastoral ministry that made me wonder how I could go on and if I would ever feel normal again. I have experienced numbness and even depression.
After a particularly difficult season of ministry, I noted a hollowness had developed in my soul stemming from all the hurt. I was not sure which direction the next hurt would be hurled. Sometimes I felt like I was shellshocked though I have never experienced the trauma of war.
As I sought my Heavenly for grace to help in time of need, He sent Robert to pray with me on the lawn of the Ohio State House while I was attending an event just a couple weeks before my family and I were to take our family vacation. During our brief conversation, Robert must have noted the burden of heart I was carrying and he prayed that God would lead me into shady green pastures and restore my soul. His prayer was overwhelmingly meaningful to me seeing that we could be staying at a cabin in the grounds of Shady Green Pastures Bible Camp during our family vacation.
Little did I know all the comfort the Lord had in store for me. While traveling, we stopped in at an unassuming used book store. The front of the store was filled with books that were of no interest to me, but I continued to meander through till I found the religious sectioned. Nestled between the free used Bibles and a comedy of Christianized self-help books, a little book with light brown and pink cover caught my eye—The Sweet Side of Suffering. Honestly, the title caused a brief reaction in my heart. Is there actually a sweet side of suffering? How could the hurt and heavy heart that I was carrying have a sweet side? I started to put the book back, but could not. It had intrigued and once I read the introduction, the Holy Spirit impressed on my heart that this book was something my Heavenly Father had for me during our vacation.
For the next week and a half, my God used that book and the testimony of Esther Lovejoy to minister comfort to my heart. Each chapter detailed in a devotional way the sweetness of God that can be seen and experienced in our suffering. As I read and meditated on the Scriptures given, the illustrations and the testimony of God’s unfailing love through the valley of the shadow of death God restored my soul in shady green pastures.
Recently, I preached a message at Grace Baptist Church entitled Hope for the Hurting where I shared this story as part of the message.
In retrospect, I have learned that in my times of deepest hurt, hollowness and even depression, my Lord is right beside me working to develop in me endurance, experience and confident expectation in Him. He is ministering comfort to my soul so that He can use me to minister comfort to other hurting souls.
If this post finds you hurting and depressed, may I encourage you to pause and realize that your Heavenly Father has not abandoned you. Jesus is acquainted with your grief. The Holy Spirit is working to bring comfort to your soul. Be careful not to make life-changing decisions, but wait on the Lord to bring comfort right were you are. Hurt in our hearts will remain in our heart as a heavy burden no matter where we go until we find comfort in the God of all comfort. Often is these times Satan endeavors to keep us focused on removing the hurt we feel rather than running to our Helper. True help and healing only comes from God.
Psalm 43:5 says, ”Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God: For I shall yet praise him, Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.“
My prayer is that God will lead you into shady green pastures and restore your soul.