Numerous Choices—Choosing to Turn to God in Grief

Numerous Choices—Choosing to Turn to God in Grief

“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” 1 Samuel 15:11

Ray Palmer, in “My Faith Looks Up to Thee,” gives us a map for walking in dark times. I learned early in my journey that I had a multitude of choices I could make. In fact, the plethora of choices terrified me. I had heard about all the missteps made by others, especially men.

Palmer’s hymn begins, “My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary…” Wisdom prevails when you turn to the Lamb of Calvary. Every other choice you may turn to is a mistake. Palmer is speaking, primarily, to that initial turning from guilt to salvation. However, as I have learned, that turning to look with faith upon Calvary is a repeated daily response beyond salvation, and especially in grief. Our eyes of faith should be trained to the Cross. We doggedly take our eyes off of sight—what’s before us—and we fix our eyes upon the Lamb.

“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:22

In the second verse of Palmer’s hymn, we sing, “May Thy rich grace impart strength to my fainting heart…” Do not ignore that your temporal default is to faint in life. Adversity. Loss. Pain. Disappointment. We need his grace—his sufficient grace—to impart strength to our weak and fainting hearts.

“My loss has revealed how small my life is and how limited my resources are.” Jerry Sittser, A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows Through Loss

The title of my blog is Facing Loss: Lessons of Hope from My Unwanted Journey. There’s a reason. I did not even have to come up with the title. It just emerged from my experience. I realized I had to face my loss squarely and I needed to do it with hope. Palmer continues in verse three, “While life’s dark maze I tread, and griefs around me spread, be Thou my guide; bid darkness turn today, wipe sorrow’s tears away, nor let me ever stray from thee aside.” Face it. Life is a dark maze. Grief has or will spread around you. You need a guide. You have numerous choices. Choose the Lamb of Calvary as your Guide! He will walk you by faith through the darkness and sorrow. He will keep you in his paths. Tempted to stray, you will be enabled to stay by his side.

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

“My Faith Looks Up to Thee” continues. “When ends life’s transient dream, when death’s cold, sullen stream, shall o’er me roll. Blest Savior, then, in love, fear and distrust remove; O bear me safe above, a ransomed soul.” Palmer captures the destination on our life’s map. The transient dream has ended. The chill of death visits us or, in some cases, rolls over us.

We will see with eyes of sight what we have embraced with eyes of faith. Our blessed Savior! The lover of our souls! Love demolishes fear and distrust. Fear and distrust are gone. No more need for faith. Now sight delivers what faith promised. He, our Savior, bears us safely above. The promised ransom has been delivered! Faith becomes sight. Hope gives way to joyful union.

In a world where there are numerous choices, the wise choose to turn to the God who made heaven and earth.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. …Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven…” Matthew 5:3, 12

4 Comments

  1. Ivy eyre

    Feeling very much alone tonight so picked up my Tablet and found your precious message. Thank you.

    Love in Christ, Ivy

    May the Lord comfort you as HE has me .

    • D. Ray Davis

      Ivy, I understand that loneliness. I’m glad you found this entry. There are so many more if you don’t know about them. There are about 137 or more entries on the main site.

  2. Greg Davis

    I’m a little behind in reading your blogs, but I wanted to comment on this one. I really like the way you incorporate lyrics from old hymns. Your blog prompted me to look up more information on Ray Palmer. It’s been nearly 200 years since he wrote “My Faith Looks Up to Thee.” It’s not a hymn that I often sing, but you brought the message of this hymn into a new light with your thoughtful insights.

    • D. Ray Davis

      Thanks, Greg! Always good to hear your perspective…and I’m not surprised to hear of your love of hymns like this one!

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