Loss

Loss comes in many forms, doesn’t it? Maybe you’ve experienced a miscarriage. Maybe you’ve had a home foreclosed on or experienced the betrayal of a friend or been cheated in an unscrupulous business deal. Loss is a part of living. We mourn and grieve when we experience loss. And we should. But we who claim the name of Christ have a hope that goes beyond a temporal loss. We worship the One who is Justice and is the Restorer. Near the very end of the Bible the Lord says, “Look, I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5). Did you catch that, mom? Read that verse again and let it sink in. Everything. New. All that we’ve ever lost will be restored to us someday. Every injustice will be made right. All that’s been stolen will be given back. All that we willingly lost for the sake of the gospel will be returned to us. God is in the business of restoring that which was lost . . . including us. We who were once lost and separated from the Lord have been found and given new life. When we experience loss, we need to remember that our children are watching how we process it. Are we pointing them to Jesus? Or are we making them bitter toward the God who loves them? We don’t get to determine the losses we suffer, but we do get to choose how we respond to that suffering.

WHEN YOU NEED TO BE ENCOURAGED THAT GOD CAN RESTORE WHAT YOU HAVE LOST . . .

When Job prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes. In fact, the LORD gave him twice as much as before!

The LORD says, “I will give you back what you lost

to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts,

the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts.”

WHEN YOUR HEART NEEDS TO BE COMFORTED OVER LOSS . . .

[The LORD says,] “I will comfort you there in Jerusalem

as a mother comforts her child.”