"From where does my help come?" (Psalm 121: 1b, NASB)
I was thinking this morning as I was reading my Bible passages: Why did Jesus take me to the Scriptures right after Stephen died?
There are many "ideas" which people have as to how to comfort people in bereavement, e.g., therapy-type seminars, five-fold people theologies. Philosophers have discussed the facing of death for millennia. But I wonder how many have ever told someone to just start reading through the Bible? I have at times, and was met with a blank stare.
I thought today, however, of some of the passages I was reading. There is the passage in 2 Samuel about an incident where a woman came to King David about a family conflict. There is the passage about Jerusalem in Zech. 12:3, "...an immovable rock for all the nations." There is the passage in John 14 where our Lord Jesus Christ tells us, "My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Then that great passage in 2 Timothy 2:11, 12, "For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him." I am and have been for a long time, "Standing on the promises, of Christ my King, through Eternal Ages let His praises ring."
The Bible reveals the smallest details of two individuals in family conflict, and a man alone, Isaac, going out into the field in the evening to, "meditate." No individual, no family is too "small" to be in the Heart of God. But then the Bible takes us also to the "heights" of the Universe, "Thy Kingdom is a Kingdom of all ages, and Your Dominion throughout all generations," and, "Thus says the Lord to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the forsaken cities....Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb." Maybe there was something in those weeks of July/August, 1970, of getting me out of myself, taking me in my heart, mind, soul, spirit, body into His Eternal Domain, showing me that what I had experienced, and am still experiencing, is the "lot" of humanity since the Garden. It is not insensitive, as some might think. Maybe Jesus was saying to me so long ago, and is saying to all who are suffering, "And just look at My Work. You are a fellow participant in all of this."
I talk of the power of the, "God-Breathed," Words a lot, I know. But regular reading of the Bible will keep us in the "larger" perspective of life, the reality of life, that we are not alone, but participants in the human experience, not just some "Christian experience." The Reign of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom is beyond church, quiet times, any spiritual experience we may have. The Bible tells us of some of the major world empires, of how some very "little people" were exalted to positions of highest authority in those empires. Those passages show us that you and I are participants in the Great, "....Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ." So, "Lift your vision higher"? Well, that can only be done by reading, meditating on, and obeying His Words.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I shall never forget that "season," that "day." You are still taking care of me. Thank You so much. Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
