6. What's to say?

‘I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth’ (Psalm 121:1-2).
 
Today, my heart is saddened by the loss of a young man, the 22 year-old son of a woman I’ve known since my teacher’s college days in the 1980’s. Tragically, he was killed in a car accident only days ago.
 
What can we say to people to give comfort when life shattering events ambush them? What assurances can we give? What can I say to you to bring comfort in these uncertain times?
 
Many people are surrounded by seemingly insurmountable difficulties. They look to the left and find no relief. They look to the right and still they find no help. But few remember to look up.
 
How often and easily we forget to look up! In times of trial and trouble we give in to faithless worrying, forgetting that we have a Father in the Father’s house above. We frantically scan the level horizon for help, and forget that the first, pleading glance of the troubled Christian soul must always be a plumb look toward heaven.
 
Often, it’s in the school of hard knocks that the eyes of the heart are trained heavenward. King David, the man who wrote the words quoted above, was a keenly honed graduate. David’s life was filled with tragedy. Few of us today would be willing disciples. On many occasions, King David came within an inch of death. Only following long and bitter days entombed in adversity did he learn to say with unwavering confidence: “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
 
Will we learn to make that our heart’s cry? Throughout all trials and tribulations, let’s remember that we have a Father in the Father’s house to whom we can go with every burden, every hurt, fear, and sorrow. We know that our heavenly Father loves us because he sent Jesus, the gift, the light, and the life of the world. Look up and be blessed!
 
With love,
Pastor Greg
Tuesday 14th April 2020.