Afflicted but not Without Comfort

Luke Morrison

Western Trail Cowboy Church

Funerals • Sermon • Submitted 3 months ago • Presented a year ago

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A Time of Remembrance

We are here to reflect on and honor the Life of Bill Bond. Even though we are honoring Bill’s life, it is a time of grief and heartache. But It is a time of remembrance. A time of joyous thoughts and times gone by. During this time memories will flood in of the good times. Of the times of joy and all the love.

Any bad memories will be gone and only good one’s will be around. Yet, even these will bring tears and grief. This is not bad. Allow yourself to grieve. It is natural and it is what we need to do.

We grieve because we love the one we have lost. We grieve because this is not the way it is supposed to be. Your grief is your persevering love for your loved one who has passed on. So it is okay to cry and be upset. Grief is good for you in this time. God does not want you to not grieve. He wants you to. He is fine with you crying out to Him. Psalm 6:9 says, “The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.” In Ps. 116:1 we also see the Psalmist saying, “I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.”

God is listening and He will hear you and help you. I know this because, Death is not what God wanted for us. He wanted us to live with Him and enjoy Him forever.

But things were corrupted and now we face this grief.

Even though we face this grief, we have comfort through it. We have a God who loves us and does not desire that any should die.

But sadly, we do and then we hurt and grieve.

Comforting Words in Grief

In these past few days, and in the days ahead, you may have or you may feel yourself saying something like this, “I wake up. I push myself up on the side of the bed. Then it hits me. They’re gone. I hang my head. Here come the tears again. It feels so heavy. I feel heavy. Like my body weighs a ton. Like I’m pushing my way through knee-deep mud, every step. I’m exhausted. My heart feels so tired, so forlorn. Sad. That’s the word. I’m just so, so sad.

Yes, this is sad. Missing someone you love is hard enough. Knowing that they’re not coming back is gut-wrenching. The weight on your heart is immense. Sadness is a natural result. This sadness is healthy. Your heart is honoring your loved one. You are expressing your love. You miss them. Deeply. Badly.

You see, grief is a moving target. It never stays still. It’s always changing. Your heart has been hit, perhaps even crushed. The grief is intense. It runs deep—deeper than even you know. This is an emotional roller-coaster. There will be ups, downs, and sudden drops. You’ll get jostled around quite a bit. It can be frustrating, confusing, and even terrifying. But know that your grief honors your loved one. Your heart is expressing your love. God created you to love. You’re expressing the heart He gave you. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord. Psalm 31: 24. Know that the Lord feels your sadness with you. He is closer than you know.

In the Bible, we see that the prophet Jeremiah knew all too well what grief was. He wrote a book called Lamentations. He was lamenting many griefs. But, even in his grief and lamenting, he knew that God was faithful. This also, is what I want you to know today.

There is a hope to cling to in these trying times. God is still on the throne. God is here today offering comfort to all who are grieving. As the prophet Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations 3:22-24; “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.”

Hope in the Lord and ask Him, "Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief.” as the psalmist did in Psalm 31: 9. Tell our Father, that, sorrow grips your heart. Ask him to Be your comfort to be your strength.

In times like these I am reminded of what the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 1:3-5

2 Corinthians 1:3–5 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

In these times you receive the comfort of the Father. You receive the grace and comfort of Christ who knows exactly what you feel.

Jesus knows all that is going on. He knows your hurt and as He told Paul later on in 2 Cor. 12:9

2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

When we feel the weakest and most down, Christ’s power will rest upon you. He will pour His grace out on you. He will shower you with His love and mercy because He knows this pain and He loves you more than any of us can ever show.

But the pain of loss is still there. Dietrich Bonhoeffer has a great point on this subject. He wrote “Nothing can make up for the absence of someone whom we love, and it would be wrong to try to find a substitute. It is nonsense to say that God fills the gap; he does not fill it, but on the contrary, he keeps it empty and so helps us to keep alive our former communion with each other, even at the cost of pain.”

Simply, let His grace comfort you. Keep the memories alive and keep loving Bill. He has made a permanent impact on all here and to try and replace that or substitute that with anything else will be to dishonor Bill.

Christ gives you the grace to make it through and the Father gives the grace to continue to love and remember Bill.

As I already said, memories are blessed moments of joy that help us in grief. Let them flood in during these next several days ahead. They will give you great comfort and peace.