This series will take us through the month of November and is intended to be a devotional that encourages us to be grateful, even in times when being grateful is difficult.
We have a lot to be thankful for.
Have you ever found yourself surrounded by people who just didn’t understand where you were coming from or how you felt? That sinking feeling of loneliness can be quite heavy. People are quick to sympathize with us when trouble arises, but empathy is challenging. Can you really walk in my shoes and understand what I have to live with? Can you truly say you get it, when the cup of suffering you and I drink from are not the same? To push the ball up court, how many of us know someone who is willing to put themselves in a vulnerable position to go through what we go through, just to solidify their love for us by genuinely understanding us?
The cross is a spiritual mirror that reflects to us how desperately we need a Savior. Not only does the cross highlight our inefficiency to save ourselves from ourselves, the cross points upward to a God who is so secure in Himself that He is willing to place Himself in positions to experience all that we go through. God experiences suffering and loss and He does so to empathize with us.
I met a Lyft driver this year named Monique and she told me her story of how she came to live in Charlotte, she told me about her family life, and we began to talk about God. During this part of the conversation she mentioned that she lost her son seven years ago and he would’ve been celebrating his 21st birthday this year. At that time I had no idea how fresh that pain still was after seven years. So much has happened in my life that seven years ago I was a completely different person, yet for this woman seven years ago will always feel like yesterday.
Fast forwarding to September of this year, Monique picked me up yet again and she remembered me. It took me awhile to recall our precious interaction, but when she mentioned the death of her son seven years ago it all came flooding back to me. This time she told me how when her son died she wanted to die with him. She painted a picture of this indescribable anguish she felt because a part of her was gone, then she told me a story of a time she picked up a passenger and things began to change. The passenger was a little old Black woman, very quiet but had a big cheerful smile. She allowed Monique to tell her story to her for as long as Monique needed to talk. The woman sat in the backseat quietly, listening attentively as Minnie talked and once she was finished there were several moments of silence before the woman in the backseat spoke seven words that began the healing process for monique,
“You know, God lost His Son too.”
Monique pulled her car to the side of the road and cried for 15 minutes. The woman in the backseat didn’t mind that she was behind schedule; she saw another person in need and remained present with her. After Monique shared this story with me my mind took me to the day our Savior died and in my mind I wasn’t at the cross, but I was at the Temple. At the back of the Temple was the Holy of Holies; this was a room that only the high priest could enter once a year to appear before God to atone for the sins of the people. This room was hidden by a curtain that was 84 feet high from top to bottom and several feet thick. It was purple and had eloquent designs at the gems and it was so heavy that it took multiple people to push it aside for the high priest to enter. On the day Jesus died Scripture tells us that the curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. The gospel narrators emphasize it was torn from top to bottom to let the audience know that no human being could have ripped this curtain in half; this was an act of God Himself. But why would God do such a seemingly strange thing at a moment like that?
We’ve been taught the curtain being torn in two was symbolic of all people being allowed access to God when Jesus died—and I don’t argue that. What gives this incident new meaning for me is understanding that the curtain in the Temple represented God’s clothing and in those times when you were in deep mourning you would rip your clothes from top to bottom. Not only did the Father allow us access to His heart, but He was mourning His Son.
When I shared this with Monique all she could say intially was, “Wow, I truly have a God who understands me.” That is something we ought to be thankful for because we are not experiencing the brokenness of this world alone. God isn’t distant from us. God will not leave us where we are because He understands all we go through. The disappointments, suffering, and pain we endure does not redefine God; God is absolutely good no matter how bad life gets. Those moments of struggle are intended for us to understand Him and His heart toward us. Because He understands us He is trustworthy with our lives. Next week we will continue this devotional by being grateful that we have a God we can trust.
Until next time, continue to stay guided by grace,
Tra
Guided by Grace 