When it Doesn't Feel Like We are Winning

There is a David Crowder song called "We Win!" It is a very upbeat song reminding us that the outcome is assured, that this great war that we are a part of has already been won, not by our weak means but by the strength of our Savior.

Right now there is a funeral at my church for a 25 year old woman who was murdered in her home last week. She is the daughter of one of the elders of the church. At this moment I'm feeling a bit down, not really down, just sad for the family. I haven't been going to the church long enough to have known her, she moved to Nashville with her husband a few years back, or to really know the elder or his family, yet I feel their pain.

To some extent, all of us who have lost someone very close to us can commiserate, but on the other hand we can't. What can you say to the grieving mother who has to come to grips with the fact that her daughter is dead all because someone decided that his or her life would be better if she were dead.

Or how do you console the father who was unable to protect his child, even though that is what we men do, we protect our families, but at this point he was unable to since she lived several states away.

Or what to say to explain to her siblings who won't be able to grow old with their sister? Or her friends?

Our pastor read from Isaiah 57:15 last week and it was very fitting.

" 15 For this is what the high and lofty One says—
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
"I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite."

Our God who ordains all things has caused this tragedy to come to pass. He promises us that all things work for good for His children, but He also knows that things will be hard.

A thing of great comfort to me is that we do not serve a lofty God who commands from the rear and is distant. Our God isn't the king who has become great on the backs of his slaves, rather He became lowly to make us great. There is not a tragedy or pain that He has not already felt for us. There is not a sorrow or test that He has not overcome. But even our great Savior understands the feeling of sorrow and loss.

He wept over Lazarus and cried out His anguish over the path He was to take to the cross.

Even now as the funeral is going on and there is so much pain He is there for His children, comforting us and promising us that even this will be good and is a vital part of the victory, even though it doesn't feel like it.