Unexpected Loss & Overwhelming Grief

One of the bittersweet callings of a pastor is to stand with people to offer comfort and strength on the worst day of their lives. More often than not, my experience tells me that in those times, there are no words, there are no answers—so you simply cry, and hug, and pray.

As I reflected this morning on the tragic loss of a young husband just a few hours ago, searching for a truth that would anchor his grieving wife and devastated family, my thoughts were directed to a verse we all know and love, Romans 8:28,

“We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

On the one hand, I am grateful for such an “easy” verse to quote in the face of hardship and tragedy. On the other hand, I have to stop and ask myself, in light of this young believer’s sudden and unexpected home-going, “do I really believe that God will cause even this to work for the good of his grieving wife and devastated family?”  I think you would agree that in all honesty, it’s a stretch to see how any good could come of this.

As I was thinking about this, a story popped into my head that I had read several years ago about the all-too-brief life of a would-be missionary named Glen Chambers.

When God called him to the mission field, Glen didn’t hesitate.  He began his preparation with fervor.  He earned his way through Bible College by working nights and weekends.  He mastered the rigors of language school; he learned Spanish as well as two Indian dialects.  And he suffered the added heartbreak of a broken romance because his girlfriend didn’t want to become a missionary’s wife.

The toughest part for Glen, however, was saying goodbye to his widowed mother.  But with Spanish Bible in hand, he set out on a flight to Quito, Ecuador to begin his service with a radio ministry known as Voice of the Andes.

But Glen never reached Quito.  Without warning, a late afternoon storm struck with violent fury.  The airliner lost its bearings and slammed into the side of the rugged 14,000 foot Andes mountain peak, El Tablazo, and exploded into a thunderous fireball.  Everyone on board the plane, including Glen Chambers, lost their lives.

Before Glen had left the Miami airport that morning, he wanted to write a note to his mother.  So he picked up a scrap of advertising on the airport floor, scribbled a note on the back, slipped it into an envelope and dropped it into a mailbox.

Just a few days later, after the news of the tragic accident had reached her, Glen’s grieving mother received the note.  With trembling hands she opened the envelope to read her son’s final words.  What caught her eye, however, was one single word from the folded advertisement.  One word, emblazoned across the back of Glen’s note, silently screamed the question of questions we’re all tempted to ask during times of tragedy,

WHY?

Of all the questions we ask, this is the most searching, the most tormenting, the most haunting.  It falls from the lips of the mother who delivers her baby—stillborn … from the wife who has to tell her children, “daddy is gone”… from the husband who hears the doctor say, “Your wife has cancer—it’s terminal” … from the heartbroken lover who hears the devastating words, “It’s over” … to the financially struggling young father who loses his job …

WHY?  That’s the question that haunts us all, at one time or another.  Why did this happen?  Why is this happening now?  Why am I the one who is going through this?  Why should I believe that anything good can come of this?  WHY?

The truth is, we may never fully get an explanation in this life to satisfy that burning question or soothe the ache of the sorrow that grows from it, but as followers of the One who invaded Planet Earth to rescue us from the tragic effects of the Fall, there is this abiding truth to which we can confidently cling in unexplainable and unexpected times,

God is too kind to do anything cruel
Too wise to make a mistake
Too deep to explain himself

The Apostle Paul once wrote,

“Oh the depth…of the wisdom of God and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”  (Romans 11:33)

We don’t always know “why”, but we do know “Who”.  We do know Who has promised to work all things to our good … Who has never broken a promise, not a single one!  … Who has promised to walk with us in our deepest sorrows and ultimately bring victory out of what the Evil One intended as harm.  We can, and we must, cling to that truth at times like these.  It is the only antidote to the deep darkness of hopelessness into which we would otherwise sink.

“He who promised is faithful!”

Remember Glen Chambers?  On his way to Quito, Ecuador to be a missionary, to devote his life to the Lord’s call, when his plane crashed into that mountain not too far from Bogota, Columbia and tumbled into a ravine below in a heap of twisted metal.  It would seem that Glen’s lifelong dream of serving God had been aborted.

Or had it?

Some years later, another missionary was in a remote area of the Colombian Andes where missionaries had never been.  As she shared the gospel with a family, the father interrupted.

“Oh, we already know about Jesus!” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “We are all believers.”

Ruth was shocked, and finally asked, “How do you know about Jesus?”

The father shared that years before, a man had come across a charred suitcase in the mountains.  Inside that suitcase was a Spanish Bible that had made its way into their possession. They showed that very Bible to the missionary.  As she opened it, there in the flyleaf was a name.  You guessed it—none other than Glen Chambers.[1]

We may never know why things happen like they do.  We may not know when and how our trials will be turned into triumphs.

But we do know one thing … we do have this certainty … we know “Who” is bigger than all our questions.  And He is faithful!

May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, comfort you in His love and care.

Pastor Ray