Falling to the ground

Have you ever received news so devastating that you felt it in your body and fell to the ground?  When my first husband died suddenly of a heart attack, I told my sons, and then called my parents, dreading to have to tell them.  My  sister, Laura, answered the phone and I told her that Doug was dead, expected her to break the news to my parents.  When she heard the news, she collapsed into a heap on the floor, dropping the phone, and mother had to pick up the phone.  This news was so shocking as to be felt in the body.

This was the kind of news Nehemiah received while in exile.  He had asked about Jerusalem and was told that the walls were in ruins and the people were not protected.  Here is how he told the story in Nehemiah 1:4, "When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.  For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven."

The hope here is in that last little phrase... "And prayed before the God of heaven."  When we are devastated, undone by something we cannot accept, we feel it in our body - everything in us cries, "NO, this cannot be!"  And we know in our gut that we cannot change it on our own.  Nehemiah, overcome with grief, cried out to Yahweh.

The Psalmist in Psalm 121 says, "I lift up my eyes to the hills - from where will my help come?  My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth."

A couple of weeks ago, I placed ashes on foreheads with these words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."  Somber words to pronounce over folks you love.  Then I added a line, "Trust in God's grace!"  Cry out to God, especially for what we cannot do ourselves!