We often turn our anger toward God when we walk through grief and other challenging moments. When a loved one dies, it’s normal to question the faithfulness of God during hard times. After all, how could a good and faithful God have allowed this bad thing to happen to you and your family?
If you’re angry with Him right now because of where you find yourself, take a moment to read on. Who knows, maybe something in the next couple of paragraphs will be what you need to help soothe a little of the brokenness in your heart.
Over the weekend, I sat outside listening to the waterfall as the wind rustled through the trees. I thought it wasn’t that many years ago when I sat in this chair with my heart shattered into a million pieces, wondering where God was. I had been trying to understand how a loving, faithful God could allow this bad thing to happen to me.
As I sat there thinking back, a friend texted and asked if I had heard the song Faithfully by Toby Mac. I immediately responded that I had. She kindly replied, “I just heard it, and it made me think of you.” Someone had sent me his album, Life After Death, and this was one of the featured songs. It had been a while, so I pulled it up on YouTube and let the words sink into my spirit:
It’s been a long year; it almost took me down I swear
Life was so good, I’m not so sure we knew what we had
I’ll never be the same man, I’ll never feel like I felt before
It’s been a hard year, it almost took me down, I swear
But when we my world broke into pieces
You were there faithfully
When I cried out to you Jesus
You made a way for me
I may never be the same man
But I’m a man who still believes
When I cried out to you Jesus
You were there faithfully
I’ve had a hard time, finding the blue in the skies above me
And if I’m keeping it real, I’ve been half fakin’ the happy they said
I may look like the same man, but I’m half the man I was
It’s been a hard year it almost took me down
In my darkest hour, You met me
So quietly, so gently
You said you’d never leave, and You stood by Your word
So quietly, so gently
And all my pain, You met me
You said you’ll never leave, and You stood by Your word
After listening, I thought about how loving and faithful God is! When you’re smack dab in the middle of the heaviness, it’s often hard to see God’s loving hand touching your life. But then, as time passes, little things begin to come together. In my quiet time, I would hear His voice and feel His hand guiding and moving me in ways that could only be Him.
Not so long ago, I read some encouraging words from Rick Warren, whose son died by suicide. This man, a pastor to over 10,000, had the same questions as we do. He said:
God gives you the hope of heaven.
If you believe in and trust Jesus Christ for salvation, then you will spend eternity in heaven with God—and that hope will sustain you through your time of loss. The Bible says, “We don’t want you to be ignorant about those who have died. We don’t want you to grieve like other people who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13 GW).
God uses your pain to help others.
This is called redemptive pain, and it is the highest and best use of your pain. “[God] comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us” (2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT).
Although I may never understand the “why” behind how my life has unfolded, and I may not initially see the faithfulness of God during the hard times, I will continue to trust Him with my whole heart. I hope that I can provide some level of comfort to others in the same way God provided His comfort to me.