In the Word: The Helper
Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. It is our desire that this series will aid you in getting in the Bible for yourself and discovering the joy that comes from hearing from God through the pages of His Word.
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.”
John 14:16
READ:
My husband and I went to sit at a Lake Michigan beach while we were still in deep grief after our daughter’s stillbirth. We sat in chilly air, looking at the endless blue. This was the closest that we could come to an ocean, living in the Midwest. Looking out at my version of the ocean, I mused about themes of eternity in that endless view. We sat on our folding chairs and swatted at a few pesky flies, mostly in solitude together except for a few passersby in the distance whose frames eventually faded into the long stretch of sand. For me, this subtle act felt bold. It was one of my first attempts to return to the “real world,” meaning the world that keeps going after tragic loss, because it was something I never would have done that day if my daughter were with me. There still seemed to be a huge gap between the “real world” and me. Every day, my heart was speaking to me themes of eternity while I could not be in heaven. The chilly air turned into a chill through my body. I wished I had brought a coat. Unlike my daughter, I was still a part of merely this world. These now-swarming flies threatened to dampen my little attempt at greatness. They won back their territory. My arms were tired of flailing after only a few uncomfortable minutes.
Settling into the car for another forty-minute drive, I tried to brush away our little beach experience as an anomaly in an otherwise precious period of time. We had felt so much love from other people after our daughter fell asleep, and I had felt the proof of God’s presence with me as I accomplished different tasks related to her funeral and as I gave birth. Yet, part of returning to the “real world” was to see again that not everything felt so momentous. The grandly generous gestures of others, the sweeping thoughts of eternity, and the new and the extensive understanding of death – which magnified Christ’s ability to crush it – that came with this time in life could not and would not all be maintained at the same level. Some days are just swatting flies away and shuffling through the sand back to the car from a beach trip that ends too soon. It wasn’t an anomaly; it was the rest of my life. This thing, this “the rest of my earthly life” thing, was sort of beyond my comprehension. I wanted to brush the whole of it aside as unimportant, as not what really mattered compared with the past consuming and sacred days and with the future heavenly ones.
But these pesky days of earthly life kept coming back. And I could not retreat from them. I had to live them.
What are we to do between now and our heavenly eternity?
The days might feel less momentous as time passes. There is heartache in that, as it feels like another separation from our sons and daughters. And then, I wonder how the disciples of Jesus would have also felt after they had spent significant time with the Savior of the world only for Him to no longer walk in their midst. How would they let go of someone so close to them? How would anything in life feel meaningful again after being discipled by God in the flesh? To no longer have this access to Him…how would they cope? Would that not have resulted in a crisis of faith for the disciples? Their faith was so directly connected to this physical Savior. How would they walk in truth without Him near? So, how would they find any sort of meaning in their earthly days without this Savior who had become so dear to them?
Jesus reads the disciples’ minds and He reads ours.
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.”
He does not leave us without aid. He gives the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who never departs from the believer. Though it is a fallen world containing loss, the believer is enabled to see through to another reality – the reality that Jesus lives.
REFLECT:
- How has the reality that Jesus lives informed and directed your grief?
- What insight does Romans 15:13 give us into the aid that Christ has given us through the Holy Spirit?
JOURNAL:
Spend some time this week studying what the Bible teaches us about our Helper, the Holy Spirit
(John 14:26, Romans 5:5, Romans 8:26, 2 Corinthians 3:17, and Titus 3:5 are a good place to start). Make a list of the many blessings we have received through God’s gift of His Spirit.
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