God is our healer, a very present help in times of
need. We all know that. Yet there are some hurts that are too great to be
easily dismissed through the normal spiritual relationship fallen mankind has
with creator God. Such a hurt forever marks us. It is carried from day to day
as a great wound – like a missing part of our heart. Healing will no doubt
come, but we can know that full restoration is a lifetime away. The scar will
show all our lives.
Herod’s harsh order to kill
all the infant boys in greater Bethlehem has been carried out. The people have suffered a great loss. Their
grief is not limited to the walls of their homes. It echos through the streets
and reaches the highest heaven, as though part of their collective soul has
been ripped out. Such pain is not inconsequential. Such mourning does not go
unnoticed - God in heaven hears their cries. “Then what was said through the prophet
Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are
no more.”[1]
Read carefully how He notes
what He hears, “a voice is heard” – “weeping” – “great mourning”. God is keenly aware that people have suffered
loss. More than that, “Rachel weeping.” The
Lord knows the sufferer by name.
Is it that God has not even
tried to comfort them? No. In His quiet way, He has spoken to them, by His
Spirit He has affirmed His love to them, yet, Rachel remains “refusing to be
comforted, because they are no more.” The situation continues. Rachel’s
grief is so great, that the still small voice of God cannot be heard over her
sobs.
The next words in Matthew’s
account are therefore all the more poignant, “After Herod died.”
Evil – even evil incarnate
– has but a season. Though it seems to last a long time, it is eventually
brought to an end and dismissed forever to perish in the fires of hell. God’s
elect have no such restriction – we were made for eternal relationship with our
eternal God. Our pain is heard in glory for that reason, and God moves to end
our pain. Evil’s time closes. Healing and restoration await us.
“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will
sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.
But you, O God, will bring down the wicked into the
pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their
days. But as for me, I trust in you.” [2]
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