Last Sunday, our church hosted the choir from Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky. They led us in a fantastic time of worship during a special service that included people who normally attend two other campuses and another earlier service, all of whom came together this day. As they sang, I felt my heart swell and I experienced an incredible sense of God’s love. The final song at the end of the service, and one which the congregation joined in on, was “Jesus Loves Me.” It was a simple, powerful and elegant way to end the service.
Yesterday, Michele and I attended the funeral of a sweet woman who had lost her last battle with cancer at age 65. The church was full and the memories shared were wonderful. This woman had asked for three songs to be sung at her funeral. The first, “Well Done,” was sung by a soloist. The congregation closed the service with the last two: “When We All Get to Heaven;” and “Jesus Loves Me.” It was again a simple, powerful and elegant way to end the service.
Two completely different services. One was a gathering of believers to rejoice and be challenged to serve. The other was a celebration and remembrance of a life well lived. There were tears in both services with the first bringing tears of joy and the second bringing tears of sorrow. Yet both also brought tears of gratitude, and both closed with the simple refrain, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
The story is told that the eminent theologian, Karl Barth, while on a visit to America, was asked to summarize his life’s work in theology in one sentence. The very learned man, who challenged the theological liberalism of his time, replied, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
On Friday, Michele and I will attend another funeral of a woman who died suddenly. She was younger than us and we first met her and her family when we were in our teens. Her parents are some of the sweetest people we know. They lost their only other child, her younger brother, many years ago in an accident. Our hearts break for them, her husband, her children and grandchildren.
The pastor who led the service yesterday shared many stories with humor and compassion, and then said we needed to consider the elephant in the room: the question “why?” Why death? Why suffering? Why now? Of course, we cannot answer those questions, but I think it’s perfectly fine to ask them. It is correct to say we live in a fallen world and disease and death will occur due to the presence of sin in the world, but that is cold comfort to someone who has lost a loved one. The only answer we have is to trust God in His sovereignty, and that does not always come easy. Trust and faith are things we learn as we slog through life. We can rail against the unfairness of our circumstances and turn bitter. Or we can rail against the unfairness of our circumstances, shed many tears, and trust that God will heal and give comfort. We will hurt, we will suffer, we will experience loss, and it’s okay to be upset about it. I cited Job in my last post and will cite the same verse again here: “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.” (Job 13:15). When Job finally questioned God about his suffering, God gave him a long and beautiful answer that I have crudely and simply paraphrased as, “I am.” God offered no explanation for suffering and loss to Job, but asserted His sovereignty which, in my opinion, was God telling Job to trust Him.
Job didn’t know it, but one day God the Son would suffer cruel injustice and pain we cannot begin to imagine – the pain of bearing all of humanity’s sin and perhaps the greater pain of that sin separating Him from the righteousness of God the Father. God knows suffering. He suffers with us. His intention for us, creatures made in His image, is to be in perfect fellowship with Him, not to suffer and die. He longs for us to return to that fellowship. Believers can look forward to the day that we will be in His presence and every tear will be wiped away and there will be no more suffering. We cannot begin to imagine what that is like either.
When things fall apart, when we suffer, when we lose someone we love dearly, when we ask the big question “why?” I think the simplest answer is the most profound, although it still exceeds my understanding: “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me.”
