His groaning, our rejoicing that he has entered the house of God
By Dean Collins
Earlier I wrote about saying goodbye to a friend, a mentor, and a colleague. As I read Psalm 5 this morning, I noticed verses that comforted me as I consider what I knew of my friend Eddie. I believe that God answered Eddie’s prayers on his final day of life as he had faithfully answered his prayers many times before. I didn’t hear my friend’s last prayers, but I knew him well enough to know the earnestness of his heart, his love for his family, and his longing to be present with Jesus and to see again his best friend and love of his life, Belinda. So it is easy for me to sense how parts of this psalm were similar to what I imagine his final prayers to be for himself, for his family, for his friends, and for his life’s work.
“Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning.”
I did hear the groaning and the gasping in those last hours. We can be confident that God is always attentive to our cries for help. David knew his Heavenly Father was both King and God and the only one worthy of receiving praise or able to help in time of need. My friend and all of us who know Jesus understand what David understood. God hears our prayers, he considers our groaning, and by the abundance of his grace, he answers us.
“But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.”
What we sometimes fail to understand is that the inspired writers of Scripture didn’t realize that they were actually writing the treasure we have in Scripture. They were filled with God’s Spirit and did what they understood God wanted them to do. God used the various authors of many scrolls to create what we know as the living and active and fully trustworthy Word of God.
I am confident that my humble and faithful friend Eddie did daily what he simply believed God was leading him to do. His humility kept him from ever realizing the cascading ripples of influence he had in God’s kingdom. What I do know is that on that Monday morning sometime a little before 10:00 a.m., Eddie walked into a place God had prepared for him. And he was reunited with many he loved and thousands more he never knew he had influenced for good and for God.
Today as you consider your day, try beginning once again by crying out to God that he would hear your groaning and your words. Offer him whatever little you believe you have, but offer it with humility and honesty. God will hear our prayers, and he will answer them. He is our shield and our strength. And one day when we walk into the place God has prepared for us, we will also meet friends and family we had no idea we brought to his kingdom because of how he used us.
As I watched Eddie’s memorial service online today, I listened as another good friend Jim Donovan shared several stories about Eddie. As he closed, he said his granddaughter had sent him a text that said she was sad he had lost his friend and she was praying for him. Jimmy wisely responded that his friend was not lost; he knew exactly where he was. Our friend is with Jesus!
May we all live faithful lives off service so that none of our friends will ever be lost because we did our jobs loving them well and introducing them to our Savior and King, Jesus.
Your time with God’s Word
Psalm 5:1-3, 7, 11-12 ESV
Photo by michal-rojek at istockphoto.com
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