God
hears your sighs and counts your tears, God shall lift up your head.
Through
waves and clouds and storms he gently clears the way;
Wait
for God's time, so shall the night soon end in joyous day.
---Paul Gerhardt, 1653
This hymn reminds me, once again, that being God’s child is
not a magic talisman against the everyday tragedies that seem to be a part of
life in this world. There will be sighs, tears, waves, clouds, storms…and we
aren’t anymore immune to them than anyone else. No, a relationship with God
does not give us a free pass from life’s hardships.
So what does our relationship afford us in this life? First
of all, the hymnist reminds us that God is intimately concerned with our
feelings---our sighs are heard, our tears are counted, and we can look forward
to God lifting our heads. We are not abandoned in our feelings of despair,
fear, or resignation. Second, we are reminded that through the storms of life
we do not travel alone. In the Arctic Ocean, ships carrying cargo follow behind
a very special vessel called an icebreaker. Its job is to clear the way through
the treacherous ice-bound ocean so that the cargo ship can carry out its purpose.
In treacherous waters, God is our “icebreaker”. The sea is vast, and ice-bound; but we do not travel
alone, and we need not lose hope.
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