Lately our current situation has had me thinking about how we respond to suffering. I’ve studied the book of Job to see how he responded when he lost everything. First, he responded with worship. Though Got had sent an Adversary (“Satan” in Hebrew), Job still worshiped God.
Currently, I am considering what role resignation has to play in our human experience of loss. By resignation I mean the acceptance of some unwanted experience. I invite you to ponder that for a few moments today too.
Consider the loss of a beloved pet, for example. At some point in grieving, whether we want to or not, we have to accept that our pet won’t live forever. We become resigned to this truth.
The capacity to resign ourselves to loss helps us preserve our mental and emotional health for the long term. Think about how bad it would be if we did not have resignation as a skill. We’d get locked into a perpetual struggle with our troubles and never be able to move forward. Resignation allows us to let some things come to pass and hopefully grow from them.
Let me be clear: this does not mean that we resign ourselves to the idea that things will never get better. That is fatalism and pessimism. No, holy resignation is a gift from God designed to help us cope with this fallen world until such time as “there will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore” (Revelation 21:4). This is hope! No matter what we experience in this life, we do not “grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
While we resign ourselves to the fact that suffering will come…we must also resign ourselves to the promise that God will not let this fallen world stay as it is forever! This is where Psalm 139 is so helpful for us. It is a Psalm of self-examination traditionally attributed to David.
You are probably most familiar with verses 13 and 14 about God’s intimate knowledge of us. But verses 23 and 24 take that idea further. If I may attempt to paraphrase, the psalmist says to God, “Since you know me so well, you know how I defend you against everyone who attacks you. So examine me and put me to the test.” What a bold statement! (Perhaps the psalmist should be careful what he asks for.)
But we see in these verses a resignation to whatever trouble may come. The psalmist is confident that God will not be found lacking. He is resigned to the truth that God will help him no matter what happens!
Friends in Christ, as we push through these challenging and unprecedented times together, let us remember that resignation is a gift from God…not just acceptance that bad things will happen…but to resign ourselves to be a people of hope who believe with all our hearts that God will make things right again!
Please pray with me: “Loving God, grant me such confidence in your wisdom that I can accept what comes my way. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
-Pastor Taylor