At A Loss

Today's passage:  II Samuel 18: 18-33
     "And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept:  and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!  would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!"  I am moved to tears reading this verse.  The angst and anguish in David's voice reaches me even now.  I have three sons, and I would die for any one of them, even if the consequences of sin had justified their passing.

David weeping over the death of Absalom--Taken from Standard Bible Story Readers, Book Six
By Lillie A. Faris, Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
The Standard Publishing Company, 1929

     That's when I think that God knew exactly how David felt.  I know He had to send his son Jesus Christ, to reconcile my sin. His death had to happen because of me.  My failings brought Him to that Golgotha hill over two thousand years ago.  When Christ was on the cross, how badly God the Father would have rather taken God the Son's place. Was God in Heaven uttering those same words about His Son that day?  "O my son Jesus, my son, my son Jesus!  would I had died for thee, O Jesus, my son, my son!"  How can we ever think God doesn't understand?  He understands all too well.  He understands again and again when the people He created live a whole life never acknowledging Him and what He sent His Son to do for them.  How would any one of us feel if our children claimed we didn't exist, if they lived their whole lives pretending we weren't there, if they spent years running away from us and denying us?  Everyday God deals with that.  And not by just one or two of his children, by thousands, by millions.  Up to this point, David has lost at least three children.  His grown sons Amnon and Absalom, and the first child (which David refers to as "he" and "him") with Bathsheba.  To lose one child is heartbreaking.  To lose more than one, devastation.  And to lose them all at once, as Job did, seemingly unbearable.  Yet God loses His children every day.  Millions never recognize Him.  Millions never look up or reach up.  God's heart breaks every day.  He is anguished by this.  One of my favorite hymns is "Does Jesus Care?" by Joseph Lincoln Hall and Frank E. Graeff.  Whenever I think that possibly God can't understand anything I am going through, I sing or hum this song to myself.  Maybe someone today could benefit from reading the lyrics.  I've included verses one and four here.

Does Jesus care?  When my heart is pained
Too deeply for mirth or song,
As the burdens press,
And the cares distress,
And the way grows weary and long?

O yes, He cares, I know He cares,
His heart is touched with my grief;
When the days are weary,
The long night dreary,
I know my Savior cares. 

Does Jesus care when I've said "goodbye"
To the dearest on earth to me,
And my sad heart aches,
Till it nearly breaks,
Is it aught to Him?  Does He see?
O yes, He cares, I know He cares,
His heart is touched with my grief,
When the days are weary,
The long night dreary,
I know my Savior cares.

And He does.