Loss

In the wake of the civil unrest in the different cities in the UK many buildings and properties were burnt or vandalised. As I saw the events on the news I couldn’t help but feel the pain of those losses. It wasn’t my loss, but I felt a glimpse of what the owners of the properties felt when they saw their livelihoods and homes going up in flames, or their shop was being broken into.

It must be what David felt when he and his men found Ziglag attacked by the Amalekites and their wives and children taken captive. The Bible says that each one of them was bitter in spirit about the losses (I Samuel 30:6)

Loss is not pleasant. It’s very painful to lose anything. It’s more painful if there isn’t any hope that what you lost will be restored. It’s very easy for us to get entangled in the distress we face because of loss and lose focus of what’s ahead. David and his men had an option, to sit and mourn about their losses, to pursue and recover everything, or to rebuild the city and start all over again. They chose to pursue the Amalekites and recover what they had lost.

This is an encouragement to us. It’s right to mourn about what we have lost, but then we need to arise and move forward into what God has placed before us.

There’s a great story of how Jesus appeared to two of the disciples on the way to Emmaus. The pain of loss and distress had made them forget the promises that Jesus was to arise on the third day. They were busy focussing on what had happened, and how they had lost the one they knew as the Messiah. It must have been a difficult time. But, as soon as they heard the words of Jesus as they saw Him break bread, they remembered what He had said to them before. In our time of loss we need to remember His past promises to us and to hold on fast to Him.

Prayer: Father, thank You for the promises that You have for me. Please open my eyes to see and understand Your will. I give my losses to You and ask You to help me know the way forward. Thank You for Your faithfulness. Amen.