Read: Psalm 32

You forgave the iniquity of my sin. (v. 5)

A man came to his doctor with a variety of symptoms: headaches, insomnia, upset stomach. No physical cause was found. The doctor said, “Unless you tell me what’s on your conscience, I can’t help you.” The man confessed as executor of his father’s estate, he had been defrauding his brother of his inheritance. The wise doctor made the man write to his brother asking forgiveness, plus enclosing a check as the first step in repayment. The doctor then walked him to the mail chute in the hallway. As the letter disappeared, the man broke into tears and said, “Thank you, I think I’m cured.” And he was.

King David would understand. After his awful sin with Bathsheba, he later wrote, “I acknowledged my sin to you” (v. 5). David did not seek out a medical doctor, a chiropractor, a massage specialist, a psychologist or psychiatrist. Surely there were forerunners of all these professional helpers in David’s day, only the titles have changed. This is not to say Christians never need professional help. It is to say, when we struggle through days carrying heavy loads in body and spirit, our first step should be to examine ourselves. Have we committed serious wrongs and not confessed them to the Lord? If so, like David, we will experience the Lord’s hand not as lifting us up but crushing us. When we do confess, we, like David, will experience the blessing of sins forgiven and joy returning (v. 11).

Prayer:

Lord, because you forgive my sins I rejoice in you.

Author: Chic Broersma

https://woh.org/

Read: Psalm 5:1-8

Make your way straight before me. (v. 8)

The famous travel host Rick Steves says, “You’ll never meet a traveler who, after five trips, brags: ‘Every year I pack heavier.’ The measure of a good traveler is how light he or she travels.” Ever run a bag race? I remember it from childhood Sunday school picnics. Sometimes you did it with a partner, each of you putting one leg in the same empty burlap sack, competing with others doing the same. Another way was for each contestant to run or hop with both legs in a bag. It was good for lots of laughs, not for impressive racing!

In our Christian race, stumbling doesn’t require gross sins. It’s enough to be unaware, careless, or undisciplined. So Scripture urges, “Let us run with determination the race that lies before us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end” (Heb. 12:1-2 GNT). We get just one chance to faithfully serve God in our generation. Travel light. Let’s not use our energy to add more “things that get in the way,” but use our drive to serve God with greater devotion. Brian Diemer, an Olympic steeple chase runner, when he failed to win a gold medal, said, “I gave the best that I had . . . and that’s all that matters. There’s a lot more in my life than running—my family, my Lord and Savior.”

When you stand before Christ will you be able to say of your Christian race, “I gave it the best that I had?”

Prayer:

Lord, empower me.

Author: Chic Broersma

https://woh.org/

Read: Psalm 73

I have made the Lord God my refuge (v. 28)

A friend of mine grew up in a large family where Mom ruled the kitchen. She fixed meals of her own creation throwing this and that into a big pot on the stove. Sometimes the boys would cry out, “Mom, you’re not putting that in the pot!” Then Mom would announce, “Get out of my kitchen.” Often times after the meal the boys would say in surprise, “Mom, that was really good!” A wise mother, she then said, “I want you boys to learn a lesson. Don’t judge something when it’s not finished.”

The road we travel as disciples of Jesus Christ includes many jarring bumps and unexpected curves; illnesses, accidents, painful disappointments. We’re tempted to judge our journey prematurely. Sometimes it feels like faith is not worth the struggle. Why is it, we ask, those who don’t seem to care—who aren’t trying to serve and love God and do what is right—why is it often such people seem to do better than I do? They have good jobs, make lots of money and always seem to be healthy and well? Why is it?

You’re not the first to ask such questions. You’ll be reassured by the answers in this psalm. As mom told her boys, “Don’t judge something until it is finished.” Read verses 21-28 again. “But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works” (v. 28).

Prayer:

I take refuge in you, O Lord. Keep me close.

Author: Chic Broersma

https://woh.org/

Read: Psalm 46

We will not fear though the earth gives way. (v. 2)

Imagine you’re looking forward to the birth of your second child. There are problems—multiple birth defects: the heart, spleen, and liver. Months of daily vigil, ceaseless travel between home and hospital. Finally you’re able to take the little tyke home. Twenty-four-hour nursing care will be required. After taking your son home, you report to your pastor (in this case me), “Our son is doing well but on my way home yesterday I was rear-ended. I sprained my neck, roughed up my knee, and injured my stomach a bit. As you know, I’m on kidney dialysis. The car was totaled.” Then this young, caring parent adds, “But we haven’t lost our faith.”

How is it possible to maintain faith and courage in such a world? Where is God when we need him? Recall Jesus asleep in the boat with his fearful disciples, in the midst of a violent storm. It seemed God was asleep (Mark 4:35-41). Yet doesn’t the psalm say our God is “a very present help in trouble” (v. 1)? Why does God do this to us? Well, as we struggle, we learn our limitations. We learn everything depends upon God’s grace and power. God’s seeming absence prompts us to exercise our faith.

Are you going through storms just now? Call upon Jesus. He holds all things together. Be of good courage. One greater than sickness and accidents is with you—one greater even than the forces of nature. Jesus will bring you safely through earth’s storms to heaven’s shores.

Prayer:

Jesus Savior, pilot me.

Author: Chic Broersma

https://woh.org/

Read: Psalm 23

I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (v. 6)

Our journey together begins with the Twenty-third Psalm. It has sung its way into more hearts than perhaps any other Scripture. A child memorizes it. Grandpa dies with its words upon his lips.

The Twenty-third Psalm is a personal confession of faith in a caring God. “My” is not even a whole word in Hebrew—but what a prefix! “The LORD is my shepherd.” The Christian faith has revolutionized the world of morals, education, science, medicine, the arts. Yet it begins for you only when it becomes personal. Only when you can say “my shepherd” can you also say, “I have everything I need.” In our wired, gadget-addicted age we stress out, adding anxiety to our lives with our ceaseless wants and desires. Yet when it comes to what we need, the Lord is able to supply us totally. He promises each of us, “as your days, so shall your strength be” (Deut. 33:25). The Scripture declares, “The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing” (Ps. 34:10).

What a beautiful picture of the bond between God and his people—a shepherd and his sheep. Moses was a shepherd. David was a shepherd. All the kings of Israel were intended by God to be shepherds of the people. Are you one of the Lord’s sheep? According to Jesus we may consider ourselves his sheep when we’ve been given a new nature “from above” (John 3:3 NRSV). Can you say, “Jesus, my shepherd”?

Prayer:

Lord, lead me.

Author: Chic Broersma

https://woh.org/

Read: Revelation 21:1-14

Death shall be no more. (v. 4)

It seems fitting to close our reflections on grief and loss with this passage from the book of Revelation. The portrayal of a world in which every tear has been wiped from our eyes, and where death simply is no more, might feel far off to us, even unimaginable. Death is such a stark reality in our lives here and now, and it might even feel like wishful thinking to cling to a vision of a new heaven and new earth. Or perhaps we may wonder what good this vision does for us with the present struggles we face. To believe in this promise of a new creation is to choose yet again to live by faith and not by sight. The evidence around us hardly points to the truth of a time where every tear will be wiped from our eyes. But choosing to believe that God is already at work, moving toward a new heaven and new earth, invites us to catch glimpses of where God is indeed making all things new.

Those glimpses can sustain us even when circumstances might feel hopeless. Where have you seen the breaking-in of the new creation? What is it that you dare to hope for even in the face of great loss? God mercifully invites us to be partners in the work of redeeming creation. Even through our weeping and heartache, God joins us and beckons us forward into life anew.

Prayer:

Strengthen us, loving God, until that day when death is no more.

Author: Jessica Bratt Carle

https://woh.org/

Read: Matthew 5:4

They shall be comforted. (v. 4)

In the midst of the beatitudes, Jesus offers a blessing to those who mourn. They are blessed, he says, because they shall be comforted. Being in the company of those who are grieving isn’t typically a state we think of as particularly blessed; in fact we tend to have sympathy for those who mourn, and we momentarily count our own blessings, thankful that we aren’t among the newly bereaved. Grief can be a tumultuous season. So how is it also a blessed state? On one level, I think Jesus utters a blessing for those who mourn because he aims to simply put forth the promise that they are not inconsolable. It’s like this for you right now, says Jesus, but you will be comforted.

There is also a bittersweet blessedness in the way that grief and loss elicit the support of those around us. This aspect of grief can be a challenge for us in contemporary society, where we might be reluctant to display our needs and our raw emotions, and where the bereaved are expected to “move on.” Jesus seems to be saying that in the season of mourning itself there is a blessing to be found. In mourning, as hard as it can be, we can take stock of the significance of our relationship with the one we lost. We come to see and appreciate in a new light what they taught us, how they shaped us, the ways they made their way through life’s challenges and foibles.

Prayer:

Reveal your blessing to us in the midst of seasons of grief.

Author: Jessica Bratt Carle

https://woh.org/

Read: Romans 6:1-5

We will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (v. 5)

For those of us in Christian traditions where infants may receive the sacrament of baptism, the emphasis around baptism is usually on the gift of the Holy Spirit and the entrance into Christ’s body, the church. Being washed from sin and sharing in the righteousness of Christ are also highlighted. But as this passage indicates, baptism is also a sacrament that marks the passage of death on the way to new life. One who is baptized is also symbolically bonded with the death of Christ. We not only die to sin in a spiritual sense, we also are marked by the journey of Christ’s physical death and resurrection.

Talking about death around the baptism of a fresh-faced newborn baby seems morbid, but in truth the many layers of baptism’s meaning serve to awaken us to the deeper realities at work in life and in death. In baptism we acknowledge God’s claim over a human life, and we commit to supporting the newly baptized disciple—no matter his or her age. The baptism promises shape our lives, but they also resound with importance when we face death. Remembering our baptism when facing death allows us to frame the situation, difficult as it may be, within a broader story of God taking on flesh and overcoming death for our sake. Our grief is real, just as Christ’s death was real. May the resurrection hope be tangibly real to us as well.

Prayer:

Thank you for embracing us in the covenant promises of baptism, at life’s beginning and at its end.

Author: Jessica Bratt Carle

https://woh.org/

Read: Matthew 11:28-30

You will find rest for your souls. (v. 29)

The word “burden” comes up a lot when illness or injury renders someone dependent on the care of others. “I don’t want to be a burden,” some will say, anxious not to cause undue strain on their loved ones’ time or finances. While these are genuine concerns, they also tend to reflect how foreign it can feel to rely so drastically on others. Most of us are used to taking care of our own daily needs, and the prospect of needing someone else to do them on our behalf feels like asking too much. Indeed, caregiving can be challenging emotionally, physically, and financially, but it can also bear unexpected fruit. The often tender opportunities to meet the needs of a parent or spouse can impact us deeply with the bond of that relationship and its changing dynamics over time. Caregiving can be a labor of love that is more of an honor than a burden.

Caregivers in turn need to be surrounded by support as well, so that if they do feel weighed down by the responsibilities they have assumed, others can relieve them from time to time. Those who are in need of bodily care remind us that we all live in various forms of dependence, and that we are equipped with the gifts of love that enable us to meet each other’s needs. Whether you are in a season marked by providing care or receiving care, may you find the rest that Christ offers.

Prayer:

Lift our burdens and strengthen us through love.

Author: Jessica Bratt Carle

https://woh.org/

Read: Romans 8:38-39

Neither death nor life . . . will be able to separate us from the love of God. (vv. 38-39)

It’s likely that you’ve heard this passage read at a funeral or memorial service. I remember reciting it aloud in unison with more than a dozen of my cousins at the service for one of my grandfathers. In some ways it felt like our presence and our voices were living proof that death could not separate us from our grandpa; his life and legacy reverberated as our lives continued on. The pain of his death was real, but we were and are still mysteriously bound to him by the God from whose love we can never be severed, neither in life nor in death.

God is the link of love that holds us across the distance of grief. We may not always feel that in convincing ways—there may be times when we feel utterly cut off from our loved ones and even from the sense of God’s love and care. It is in those difficult times that the body of Christ can enfold us, repairing the linkages through the bonds of community so that we might heal enough to experience God’s presence anew. Grief can be isolating and disorienting; thanks be to God that as members of the body of Christ we do not have to tread this path alone. Where in your life right now are there others who are struggling with the loss of loved ones, who might benefit from a simple expression of care?

Prayer:

Lord, assure us that nothing in all creation can separate us from your love.

Jessica Bratt Carle

https://woh.org/

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Behold, the new has come. (v. 17)

What do you picture when you hear the claim that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation? Perhaps a baptism of a new believer, or an occasion where reclaimed faith seems to bring a bright new beginning? “New creation” doesn’t usually conjure up images of those who are nearing the end of their lives, and yet there is often abundant newness in life’s final chapters. In the face of physical decline and a sense that time is running out, there can yet be remarkable growth in our spiritual lives and in our relationships.

Sometimes a long-awaited reconciliation may finally occur when death is at hand. For others, a new level of awareness of God’s provision and promises might suddenly feel more real than ever. And for both the dying and their survivors, the opportunity to forgive past wrongs can lift the burdensome weight of the past, restoring even a fragile reconnection before it’s too late. As American abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe remarked, “The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.” Sometimes the words or deeds of those who passed away without reconciling difficult relationships are left to us as we seek to make sense and somehow move on. In those situations too, new creation is possible. The Lord of life is at work, sometimes mysteriously, turning our mourning toward a stunning newness of life.

Prayer: Re-create us according to your life abundant, gracious God.

Jessica Bratt Carle

https://woh.org/

Read: ROMANS 8:18-26

With groanings too deep for words. (v. 26)

Paul’s letter to the Romans runs deep with conviction about what the death and resurrection of Christ mean for believers. What might it mean, for instance, that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that is going to be revealed to us (v. 18)? Sometimes our sufferings, or those of others near and far, feel downright crushing; it is hard to imagine a glory so spectacular that we would think back to those sufferings and say, “Never mind.” This is part of the challenge of living between the times of Christ’s resurrection and his ultimate return. The whole creation longs for the fullness of God’s purposes to be made real, and we humans find ourselves in situations where “we do not know what to pray for as we ought” (v. 26).

I have witnessed many of those situations. Do we pray for a miracle? Do we pray for this person’s suffering to be alleviated, even if that means death is close at hand? The image of the Spirit groaning on our behalf is a picture of intercession that surpasses our words and our control. It is a groan that echoes the labor pains of all creation, pushing toward the restored life that is God’s ultimate trajectory for creation. It is the groan that understands the sting of death, and which holds the promise of that new dawn—a dawn that is both in the past and in our future—when death has lost its sting forever.

Jessica Bratt Carle

https://woh.org/

Psalm 139

Where shall I go from your Spirit? (v. 7)

Not only does this psalm offer a beautiful image about how we are known even before birth by our Creator, it also assures us that the Creator does not simply turn us loose to fend for ourselves throughout our lives. The God who made us is the God who remains our companion for all our days. At the heights of joy and even at the depths where we are beset by evil, says the psalmist, God’s Spirit is there with us. Whether we’re living through heaven on earth or hell on earth, God is accompanying us. At times, it can be difficult to perceive that a loving God is really there, watching over our comings and goings. “Where were you when . . . ?” we may ask God, with no easy answers.

Sometimes in hindsight we see where and how God was present with us in the valley of the shadow of death. One way that we often experience God’s presence is through the actions of others. “Everyone came out of the woodwork,” parents often tell me when sharing the story of how their families and communities and even strangers responded to a child’s life-threatening diagnosis. Human kindness can be a beacon of God’s loving presence for those who may be feeling abandoned by God in the midst of a difficult time. In whose life can your simple gestures and heartfelt words of support begin to mean so much?

Jessica Bratt Carle

https://woh.org/

Read: Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength. (v. 1)

Some phrases in this psalm resonate with what I often hear from people when they recount the story of the loss of a loved one. “It felt like the earth was giving way,” they’ll say, or like their world “came crashing down.” Like mountains being swallowed by the sea. Indeed, when we lose someone who is part of the very landscape of our lives, it can feel as though the earth under us is not firm, as though everything we assumed would be as unchanging as a mountain range has suddenly come undone.

Disorienting changes are only part of the psalmist’s song, however. Alongside the tumultuous events are the ongoing promises of God’s presence. A presence so enduring and so trustworthy—even in the midst of great trouble—that we can find solid footing on which to rest.

A friend of mine and her husband lost a baby shortly after birth; as my friend describes what it was like to hold her dying daughter, she says that the sense of God’s presence was almost palpable, even while their anger and sadness and doubts were heavy on their minds. “Be still, and know that I am God,” the psalm also urges (v. 10). We may search for answers and it may take us years or decades to process all that we have been through, but at every moment there persists the invitation to be still, and to know God as a bedrock that shall not be moved.

Prayer:

Help us to find our footing in you, and to be still.

Author: Jessica Bratt Carle

https://woh.org/

Read: Isaiah 53:5-12

He poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (v. 12)

Christians humbly and gratefully believe that Jesus, the promised Messiah, stood before Pilate as his judge, was repeatedly pronounced not guilty, and yet was sentenced to be crucified, to suffer, and to die in our place. Jesus, the sinless Servant of God “poured out his soul to death,” lifting upon his own shoulders and carrying “the sin of many” (v. 12) when we had stupidly strayed from God to follow our own rebellious ways. John Calvin, knowing our consciences as guilty-yet-forgiven sinners, taught his readers to “remember this substitution.”

A dear pastor-friend, Nick Twomey, is living out a life of gratitude. He is ever thankful for God’s gracious substitution of his only Son, in place of us guilty sinners. I have appreciated Nick’s biblical convictions and tenderheartedness, his sense of humor and ability to communicate.

In a well-written booklet entitled Wrecked, Nick tells about how he came to trust in Jesus, our Substitute. For Nick’s personal conversion, our Lord used childhood “stories of regret,” involving a stolen cookie and a wrecked car . . . followed by surprises of grace! These experiences of grace prepared the way for Nick’s trusting acceptance of God’s surprising grace to us in Christ, who suffered under Pontius Pilate and died on the cross, paying a debt we could not possibly repay.

Prayer:

Gracious Father, thank you for surprising us by sending Jesus your Son, “who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

Author: John Tousley

https://woh.org/

Read: Matthew 1:18-25

“The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (v. 23)

As Christians we believe that Christ, who always was God, also became sinless man, by a unique miracle of the Holy Spirit. Matthew’s Gospel testifies to the virgin birth of Jesus as a striking fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy concerning “Immanuel,” meaning “God with us” (Matt. 1:23; see Isa. 7:14).

When “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14), when Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, our heavenly Father gave believers a gift to bring us joy! This wonderfully unique gift was something like a lesser gift once given to me and to my wife.

It was a lasting gift received many years ago, and yet, still as beneficial as when it was given. The giver of this gift was Betsy, a loving, smiling Christian believer and church member. Her gift was plain yet beautiful. My slippers were skillfully knit from tan, brown, and rust-colored yarn, my wife’s from a well-blended assortment of white and blue-colored yarn. The slippers not only kept our feet and ankles warm but also warmed our hearts whenever we remembered Betsy, the kindhearted giver of this gift.

What an incomparable gift, when God’s only Son was born for us!

Prayer:

“Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Cor. 9:15)

Author: John Tousley

https://woh.org/

Read: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Therefore encourage one another with these words. (v. 18)

My mother died when I was 7, and my sister died when I was 15. Of course I had a full range of emotions including anger and fear. But my faith and resolve have actually been solidified through times of loss. The verses referenced today were used by the pastor who officiated at my sister’s funeral. They have been marked in my Bible all these years, and often I have revisited them. I have been acquainted with death many other times, as my dad, other relatives, and friends passed away. Each loss has brought very painful times. Yet I believe there is no greater comfort for those still living on earth than to know where their loved one has gone.

Death cannot have the final say in the life of a believer; instead, it is a passage into a much greater life. When someone dies we grieve, but we do not have to “grieve as others do who have no hope” (v. 13). The great promise is that Jesus secured our salvation by his death and resurrection.

Despite the pain of loss when those I held close died, I want to communicate hope for those who go through similar situations. The stages of grief are normal and natural, and the Lord will draw near to all who call to him in times of loss. Yet we can also envision that wonderful scene of being caught up together with our loved ones in the arms of our Lord on the final day.

Prayer:

Eternal Life, thank you for your beautiful promises.

Author: Myrna Folkert

https://woh.org/