March 29
“My days are past, my purposes are broken off,
even the thoughts of my heart.”
Job 17:11
Anyone who has had sudden, overwhelming trauma knows the hopelessness that takes over. They are convinced that they will never again have a happy day in life. They don’t want to hear what their “comforters” have to say, because they are convinced their life has ended and that they will know only sorrow until they die – reminiscent of Jacob when his sons brought him Joseph’s blood-stained coat. The shock. The despair.
Unexpected suffering wrings the soul inside out. It smothers the very life of the person.
How to comfort such a one?
You can’t. But you can pray for the healing of the broken heart, you can pray for strength, you can pray for restoration, and you can pray for grace, that they be given the grace and strength to walk through those days without being destroyed. And most of all, you can pray that in their sorrow they will come to know the Lord in a deeper way than they’ve ever known him before. You can pray that they will experience HIM, and that in experiencing HIM they will be healed.
“The effective, fervent prayer
of a righteous man AVAILS MUCH.”
James 5:16
