But God….
My heart was heavy on the way to church yesterday morning. The fallout from the Parkland school shooting is still fresh on most Floridians’ minds. The negativity and bickering on Facebook after the shooting seems to be growing rather than cooling off. Couple that with news that a father/husband in our homeschool community committed suicide on Thursday lent to a downtrodden attitude.
Our pastor is working through the book of Ecclesiastes. The passage yesterday was dealing with wisdom, as does much of what Solomon wrote. Honestly, I wasn’t hopeful to find too much encouragement for my sad demeanor from these particular passages.
But God.
Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. Ecclesiastes 7:19
The pastor pointed out a few “no brainers” but yesterday they had new meaning. One such truth was that wisdom can never be found unless God is in the center of it. If we focus on “me,” wisdom will always be flawed and never truly complete.
He then went on to reference a passage in James 3:17:
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
This particular verse he used as a guideline for when we are going to speak something. My mind instantly went to facbook when I am tempted to debate. I thought this would be a good checklist before I post, comment or debate any further.
So yes, I found comfort in the ongoing negativity surrounding Parkland. But what about this dad who was loved by the community who committed suicide?
As details continue to emerge, I pray that our network of moms will consider the words in James before speaking and before judging. Only God knows the depths of this man’s heart and how wounded it was to see no end other than taking his life.
While there are plenty of Scripture verses that deal with sadness, none of which our pastor addressed yesterday, I still found comfort in the passage on wisdom. Why? Simply because God’s word doesn’t return void. At that moment, God had me at that church to hear that sermon on that Sunday. I left renewed to consider my own words before speaking.
I know this family has a rough few weeks/months/years ahead. This Parkland debate isn’t going to stop either anytime soon. But placing God in the center of seeking wisdom allows the Holy Spirit to guide and direct thoughts and actions so that they can be peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
Amen to that, Dana. You are right; we need to consider our words first before responding. Sometimes thoughts pop in my head, but I need to be tender hearted before sharing my thoughts.
A parent I know who lost an adult child to suicide mentioned that God rarely answers the “Why?” We just have to lean on Him.
Some questions just are not for us to know, we must trust God for the answers that just don’t seem to come. We learned this lesson when my husbands brother was killed. When dealing with tragedy we must be tender hearted and lean upon God’s wisdom. ((blessings))