Loss and Hope

This week, our meditation will focus on the story of the widow of Nain from the gospel of Luke (7, 10-15).  In fact, this text is one of sorrow and misery, recounting for us the pitiful state of a woman who, having first lost her husband has now lost her only son and is left alone in this world.

What happens when the bottom falls out, when the only thing you really care about is taken away, when, in Kipling’s words, you “watch the things you gave your life to, broken?”  Such loss, usually, brings two important questions to mind: First, does God really care?  Many of us begin to doubt God’s goodness and love, and struggle believing in a God who would allow such suffering.  Second, is there any hope?  Is God capable of bringing life and joy into my dead heart once again?  Many simply give up on God and retire from the human race…. 

All of us suffer loss to one degree or another.  Some suffer more than others.  Some handle it better than others.  But we all face our share of dark days and unexpected pain no matter how much we try to protect ourselves.  Suffering is part of the human condition and our fallen world.  The rain falls on the just and the unjust and so does suffering.  Suffering just is.  It lies outside the scope of explanations, rationalizations, and justifications.  The only thing that truly matters is receiving and experiencing God in the midst of it.  When the last thing is taken, when your deepest fear is realized, will you turn towards God or away from Him?