Our Father’s Love

This past Tuesday morning I awoke at 5:00 AM to the shrill ringing of the telephone. I held my breath as my husband picked up the receiver. As I listened to the one-sided conversation, I immediately recognized that this was not good news. My brother-in-law, my sister’s husband, had passed away quite unexpectedly earlier that morning. I was stunned, totally unprepared for such tragic news. 

As I struggled to comprehend what had happened, my thoughts immediately shifted to my sister, her son and daughter. Their husband and Dad was gone. Their family unit was broken. I could not begin to fathom what they were going through.

As I walked through the week with them, however, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from family, friends, and coworkers. Almost immediately, and throughout the week, people came. They came to talk, to share stories, to laugh and to cry. They brought food. They sent flowers. They gave cards and hugs. They sat quietly. They prayed. As I watched so many expressions of sympathy, love, and caring, I thought about how much these actions represent the love of our Father in heaven.

Jeremiah 31:3 reminds us of the love of our Heavenly Father. “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” The apostle Paul assures us that nothing can separate us from this love. “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

We are probably never closer to the heart of God than when we experience pain and suffering. The Psalmist reminds us in Psalm 147, “He (the Lord) heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” The prophet Isaiah pointed us to Jesus Christ who was sent to heal the brokenhearted; to comfort those who mourn; to give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning; and a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (see Isaiah 61:1-3).

God was ever so near to us this week as we mourned the loss of our dear loved one. His tender love and mercy was expressed through many different hands and in many different ways, but the love expressed was straight from the Father’s heart. How comforting to know that we have a Father who feels when we hurt, who cares about what we’re going through. “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them” (Psalm 139:17).

And as I think of all those who ministered to our family this week, I am overcome with how humbling it is to think that God could use me (as He used so many others this week) to be His hands and feet and convey His message of love to someone going through a time of difficulty. Thank You, Father, for Your love expressed in so many ways this week.

Our God is not an absent God,

He dwells among us all,

He’s with the sick and suffering,

The weak, the poor, the lost.

He’s present with the broken ones,

The lonely and outcast,

And in the midst of raging storms,

He’ll always be right there.

Oh, may His love compel us

To go where He would go,

To join Him in His labor

And to a hurting world, to show

Our God is not an absent God

He dwells among us all,

And He is ever ready

To answer when we call.