“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more,” (Matthew 2:18, ESV).

Julie woke up when a cloud obscured the sun through the window and chilled her as she sat on the chair provided by the hospital. She knew her dad would not make it through the week, and she recalled her brother Tony’s angry response that morning.

“I want an explanation,” he yelled. “Why would God allow this to happen? Why our dad? Why now?”

Bad things happened in this sad, sad world, she reflected. Children are orphaned, good people are hurt, her dad was dying, unfairly young at sixty-eight. She thought about the children who had perished by the cruelty of Herod, and she understood how inconsolable the mothers must have been.

Of course people grieve over a betrayal, the loss of health, or the loss of a loved one. But she and Tony had just been reminded that these things don’t always happen to anonymous “other people.” Dad’s passing was happening to them!

At some level she understood that her dad would die some day. It was just going to happen sooner than she had thought. It was natural to hurt; it was natural to ask why.

But an explanation? Had God promised them explanations, or his love and comfort? The cloud left, and the warm sun began to filter through the window again, warming her, mind and soul.

–by Stan Mitchell @ www.forthright.net