BECAUSE HE LIVES



Psalm 22:22-31

The United Methodist Service of Death and Resurrection closes with a prayer of thanksgiving that begins with: “God of love, we thank you for all with which you have blessed us even to this day: ...” (United Methodist Hymnal, p. 875)

Giving thanks is easy on the days when life is going well, when all the bills are paid and everyone we know and love, including ourselves, are happy and healthy. But what about the times of loss and grief, of unemployment and chronic, life-threatening illnesses? What reason do we have to give thanks then?

Maybe our source of praise has nothing to do with our circumstances but everything to do with the love of God at work in our lives at all times.



One of the ways I’m dealing with the grief of my husband’s death is to journal. The entries are letters to God in which I pour all my heart out to him – all the pain, all the sorrow, all the worries and fears, much the way David did in his psalms of lament.

Psalm 22 is a lament from his years of exile and hiding from the wrath of King Saul, a “valley of the shadow of death” period in his life. It begins with this familiar line, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning.” (Psalm 22:1) He pleads, “Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.” (Psalm 22:11)

When the call we hoped never to receive comes in the night; when the doctor says the words we never though we would hear; when the future we planned for ourselves is suddenly changed with the loss of a job or a natural disaster, when hope is lost or betrayed – those are the times when we find ourselves in our own valley of darkness. We feel so overwhelmed that by worry and despair that we may feel alone and abandoned with no help in sight.

David’s song of lament changes abruptly to a hymn of praise for salvation. God’s love not only rescues us in the midst of the troubles of this broken and unredeemed world, but it also strengthens us and guides us through every trial. It preserves us in the present and gives us hope for the future.

Sustaining grace means that when we’re falling to our knees in despair, when we’re being crushed under the burden of worry and anxiousness, when the insanity of the world threatens to bury us in fear, Jesus can and will lift us up.

Our ability to give thanks is not dependent on our life circumstances but rather flows naturally from the knowledge of the abiding presence of Christ with us. Our Lord is not a fair weather god who turns his back on us when things get difficult or looks at our suffering with disdain. No. In the midst of our suffering, Christ is always with us, ministering to us with God’s compassion and loving us unconditionally. Everyday, we experience the newness of his mercies and the provision of his abundance. The power that resurrected Christ can resurrect our hope and give us new reasons to give thanks and praise.

This last Wednesday, as I was overcome with grief, through tears I wrote the same thing in my journal, over and over again. I know my redeemer lives. I know my redeemer lives. I know my redeemer lives. And with each pen stroke, Christ lifted me up from my despair.

I know my redeemer lives, and because I know he lives, I can face tomorrow. My fear is gone because Christ holds my future, and life is worth the living. Because my redeemer lives.

Our redeemer lives. That is why even in our darkest hours, even to this day, we can give thanks.

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