Isaiah 53:4, “Surely, He has borne our griefs…”
As I type it is 6pm on Sunday evening and news about the Sutherland Springs church shooting is flowing in via internet media outlets….
When we heard, Courtney and I prayed together…its hard to find words…Its hard to know how to respond with such an overload of this sort of news. NY, Vegas, Tennessee, Florida, Sandyhook….and those are a fraction of the whole……Every one of these shootings is—ought to be—an agony in our hearts…..yet in this situation, there is a unique emotional involvement because those who suffer were belivers…..the pain is “in the Body.” When one part suffers we all suffer (1 Cor.12:26)…..
And because they are our brothers and our sisters….this also means that there are unique tones of hope pervading the dismay….hope because we—and I pray they—can collapse into the arms of the God who died (just as the pastor’s own dear daughter died….) and who rose again…..knowing that He Himself is the Resurrection and Life….
So, this is my feeble effort to “weep with those who weep” (Rom.12:15). May the Spirit of the Risen Christ wrap our mourning siblings in His strong love that overwhelms the grave.
