This is a post by my granddaughter, Emily Harris. I hope you'll read it and leave an encouraging comment.
We know the story of the crucifixion: Jesus was crucified, placed in the tomb, and was raised back to life. We love that story: our whole faith and relationship with Christ begins with that story. God laid on my heart to think about, and study--what happened the day after He was crucified?
In the gospels, the only testament of that day which we believe to be Saturday, is found in Matthew 22:62-66 and even that is just telling us that guards were stationed at Christ' tomb to prevent someone from stealing the body. So what happened with the disciples the day between His death and His resurrection? Before His death, they had the hope of His coming: on the 3rd day, because of His resurrection, we have the hope of heaven and His return to take us home with Him. But I can't help but think how lonely and sad that Saturday must have been. And on Saturday, God was still good, still our Savior, still in control.
Have you ever wondered, "Where is God? Why does He not answer me?" Too often we turn back to sin because it is familiar and we think it will heal us. But how can we expect a broken world to fix our broken heart?
God has really spoken to me these past months since my son was born sleeping. God is not the author of suffering, but He is the Redeemer of suffering.
We read in the Bible that so many have suffered. For instance, Abraham: He was old, Sarah was old and they had tried for many years to have children. They finally have Isaac and things seem perfect, "God has now given us everything." But then in Genesis 22:1-14, God asks Abraham to do the unthinkable. There is no doubt: that was NOT an easy decision, but Abraham knew, God is good, God will provide. What could have been the worst day of Abraham's life, God still provided.
Then there is Job. He had his family, his wealth, everything stripped from him. His friends, even his wife turned against him and begged him to curse God and die, but Job remained faithful. I love Job's wording: The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
The Lord owes us nothing, we owe Him everything. He allowed me to love and protect Lucas Aaron for 30 weeks and 2 days. I've constantly and continuously begged God to show me why this has happened or what I did to deserve this. God has slowly revealed to me, I didn't deserve Lucas, he was a gift to me for however long or however short God allowed me to keep him.
In Habakkuk 1:5 the Bible says, "Look among the nations and see; wonder and be astounded. For I Am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if I told you."
We can't see what God is doing all the time or even fully understand it. The devil will use our Saturdays against us. He will say things like, "You aren't good enough for God. Look, He's being quiet while you are begging Him to heal your heart. You are too far gone for Christ." The devil will do anything and everything to turn us away from God. God never promised us an easy, good life. In fact, He told us that the world hated Him and they would hate us. We aren't called to overlook suffering: we are called to go through it with Christ as Lord.
Pain and grief will blind us to what He is showing us and how we can use our testimony to help others. When our Saturdays come, Who or will you be clinging to?
Emily
