The world is full of sadness. It is full of terrible
circumstances, natural disasters, wicked people. Even the church is full of
sorrow at times. It can be so overwhelming to see people whom we love have to
trudge through the trenches of despair. In this past week alone, I have seen
dear friends struggle with relational issues, deep sin, heavy hearts, and
extending grace to others. It has been so hard to watch my friends deal with
the hardest parts of life, and know that there is nothing I can do to make
things better. I know for myself, I just want to take on the sorrow of my loved
ones. If I have a friend who is hurting, I try to take on their sadness for
myself so that they can be happy.
But that is exhausting. I am not called to take on the sadness
of the world. I am not even supposed to allow my own sorrows consume me. I have
a High Priest whose love was so great that He chose to offer up his life--to
the point of death--so that I would be able to walk away from the troubles of
this world and walk in the peace of The Father. He takes on all my despair,
listens to my troubles, and cares for me as I weep. He is far better at
comforting His people than I ever will be.
Recently, I read an article and in it was a line that spoke
deeply to me:
"It's not our
job to make people leave their time with us feeling better about their lives.
In fact, God didn't give us the title Chief Problem Solver. He firmly keeps
that title for Himself. Many times our only role in troubling moments is to
look to a God who knows the whole story and ask Him to do what He's good at…Be
God."
How true are those
words. While I desperately want to fix all the issues in my friend's lives,
that's not my role. I am so thankful for that, as well. As much as I would love
to be the one that is able to make all my friends happy, that is so much more responsibility
than I could handle. Praise the Lord that He is powerful enough to deal with
all things in our lives, good and bad and small and huge. My only job is to
love the Bride of Christ well. I prefer that task far more than I prefer the
task of taking on the weight of this world.
So take time to
thank the Lord, for His grace, mercy, and unconditional love. Thank Him for
continually having His arms wide open for all His children to run straight
into. Even in the midst of hard times, He is carrying us through it all. And
when you run into times of dealing with sorrow, or if you are unsure how to
comfort a hurting friend, simply step back and let God be God.
