Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Nov/81

Contributor - Rev. Henry Van Essen

Title - When Our Life Collapses

Topic - Suffering

When David and his 600 troops returned to Ziklag, their hometown for years, they found it flattened, smouldering and deserted. What they had left a week before as a place full of life and loved ones, was now empty and lonely. Then "David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept, until they had no more strength to weep" (vs. 4). Their loved ones, everything was gone; their whole life has suddenly collapsed.

Many people can identify with this experience of David and his troops. Life on earth continues to crumble before our eyes. We lose a loved one, a good relationship, our source of income, our dream. Then there is grief. David and his men wept until they were completely exhausted. We may be thankful for all that we could have in the past, for all that we still have, yet the loss remains. Life has collapsed and there is grief.

The question, however, is not whether there should be grief, but rather where this leads us. David and his men were led in two different directions.

The grief of the troops caused them to become bitter in soul. We too may have met people who become bitter because their life collapsed. It is understandable; emotions and passions are at a high pitch within us during such days and it is so tempting to give free reign to them. When we do this, we quickly find ourselves looking for those who caused our grief. Thus the troops turned to David: "It's all his fault, let's kill him." That is one direction into which we can be led by our grief, towards bitterness, self-pity and accusations.

But David moves in the opposite direction, David strengthened himself in the Lord" (vs. 6). He too had wept until exhausted, until no moisture was left. Then he turns to the Lord to strengthen himself. That is the only way to survive; we all must learn to strengthen ourselves in the Lord.

We do this by first remembering God's goodness and mercy. We must, consciously, by an act of the will, place before us His love in Jesus Christ, crib and cross. We must see towering over our grief and collapse of life the life-giving love of God. Next we must focus on the Lord God's faithfulness, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."

Then we must consider His sovereignty, "As for God, His way is blameless". He governs according to the counsel of His will. All our lives fit into the plan and purpose of His Kingdom. For whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.

Only then can we begin to confess that His ways are far beyond our ways, and that His thoughts are far higher than ours. It will be extremely difficult to say that when our lives have collapsed through the loss of a loved one; yet that is how we receive strength, how we strengthen ourselves; by leaning on His fulness. Once we do this we become enabled to face a turbulent future calmly and with confidence. David far-ed 600 troops ready to stone him, and directed them towards a positive future.

When we strengthen ourselves in the Lord, we become at peace with ourselves. We already know that the Lord Jesus rose again on the third day after His crucifixion. We know that total victory over all death, destruction, injustice and suffering is His and will be ours through Him. Therefore we are able to go on, even thanking God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph.

There may very well remain tears, but through the tears now begins to shine a bit of a smile, not the glint of a hardening bitterness. And through the tears we yet give thanks to our God who upholds us in the midst of an ever crumbling life.

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