The Power of Amen

“That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “ He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.”

Matthew 8:17

This last month has been difficult for a few families in our church who have had loved ones pass from this life to the next. This morning as I was thinking about them and praying for them a quote from a book, “A Grace Disguised” comes to mind. It is about a man who lost his mother, wife and daughter in one single head on automobile collision. If anyone understood the hurt and heartache of losing someone you love it was this man, as he came close to losing it all. In his book he writes about the struggle of trying to make sense out of the tragedy. He wrote, “Loss creates a barren present, as if one were sailing on a vast sea of nothingness. Those who suffer loss live suspended between a past for which they long and a future for which they hope.” I know that struggle as does anyone who has lost someone they love, the suspension that exists between the past that I loved and the future I don’t know. Praying for these families today I am reminded of yet another quote on grief that said, “I wanted something I had not something I could have”. In our humanness we always want what we know over that which we don’t know.  

Losing a loved one, no matter how strong your faith in Jesus is, it still hurts, and there is no denying that. I think most would agree that the greater the love the greater the pain. It was C.S. Lewis who shared with raw emotion at the death of his wife, “why love if it hurts so much?” My prayer for those of you who have suffered the loss of someone you love is that in the midst of the being suspended between a past you long for and a future you hope for is that God is so real to you. That you hear the word “amen” that Jesus said when He told the disciples in Matthew 28:20 that He would be with them always, even to the end of the age, AMEN.

I had never really paid close attention to the “Amen” until just a few years ago and it is a powerful word and so fitting. Amen, means “So be it”. Think about the implications of Jesus words for a minute. Jesus is saying, I’ll be with you until the end of the age no matter what. When Jesus says, “amen” or “so be it” He means it, that’s how it is. It’s more than a period at the end of the sentence, its an exclamation point emphasizing loud and clear this is how it is as a matter of fact. Jesus is there when the sun is shinning and Jesus is there in worst of storms, the darkest night. “So be it”, means you can count on Him. Jesus is there for the long haul! That’s Good News of the Gospel!

I pray that the comfort that only God can provide will rule your heart and mind today as you ponder the “amen” of God that we read about in Matthew 28:20. God is never closer than He is to the broken-hearted. When you are going through loss draw close to God just like you do in the good times too. God is an ever-present help in times of trouble. Believing that and knowing this truth first hand in my own life, let me encourage you to let your pain push you forward moving ever closer to the outstretched arms of Jesus! Draw near to God, in your pain, friend, and God will draw near to you with His comfort that ushers in His joy, Amen!

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise”

Psalm 51:17

I LOVE YOU!

Michael Osthimer

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