Our Hope Even in the Darkest of Days

Read Psalm 86:1-13  

Late one evening, my mother called. She had just spoken with a police officer who told her that my brother “was not doing well.” She asked me to meet the ambulance at the hospital. My brother had overdosed on drugs. A week later, our family laid my youngest brother to rest. 

Four days after my brother’s funeral, our son called in a tremendous panic. Our soccer player son severely injured his foot in a lawn mower accident. Paramedics transported him to the hospital. Our nineteen-year-old was asked to give consent for the potential amputation of his foot.

In this season of grieving for my brother and son, loneliness, sadness, sorrow and fear engulfed me. Although present at the hospital with our son, I was unable to change or fix the circumstances. In this place of quiet anguish and desperation, I experienced the compassion, grace, love and faithfulness of God, as I never had before.

I read from the book of Job. After Job suffered tremendous loss, Job’s friend, Eliphaz, counseled him. While not everything that Eliphaz said was helpful, he was right when he counseled Job to focus on the greatness of God: “But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.” (Job 5:8-9) 

In Psalm 86, King David, in undefined affliction, cries out to God, saying, “Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.” (v. 1) and “When I am in distress, I call to you, because you answer me.” (6b) As in the book of Job, David acknowledges God’s greatness and kindness: “Among the gods, there is no one like you, Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.” (v. 8) and “For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.” (v. 10).

I clung to the verses in Job and appealed to God. My prayers were not eloquent, but rather raw and honest cries to the Lord of mercy, who is “close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18).

Years later, I am yet mindful of God’s profound goodness during those uncertain days. I will forever be grateful for His provision, as well as for the kindness of others. Miraculously, our son’s foot was healed, and within a year of the accident, he returned to the soccer field. Praise be to our loving God and Father, He “who is over all and through all and in all. . !” (Ephesians 4:6b)

FOR REFLECTION:

• When has life overwhelmed you to the point of anguish? How did God carry you though that season?  

by Maureen Gibson