So much grief and loss…But God!
By Elizabeth Prata
Susannah Spurgeon and her husband Charles had a close relationship. When Charles passed away in 1892, she was left a widow in deep grief. They were married 36 years. Charles had called her “the greatest of all earthly blessings.” Susannah herself said of their life together they were “two pilgrims treading this highway of life together, hand in hand,–heart linked to heart.”
Susannah knew grief. She also knew Jesus.
Susannah Spurgeon, from “A Basket of Summer Fruit” (written after the death of her beloved husband, C. H. Spurgeon)
As this is a “personal note”, I may be allowed to tell you that, in my deep and increasing loneliness, I still find sweetest comfort in praising God for His will concerning my beloved and myself, and have even been able to thank Him for taking His dear servant from this sorrowful land of sin and darkness—to the bliss and glory of His eternal presence. Fixing my heart on the blessed fact that what the Lord does is right and best, simply because He does it, I feel the anchor hold in the depths of His love—and no tempest is powerful enough to drive faith’s barque from these moorings. It can outride any storm with anchorage in such a haven. Many a time, when the weight of my dreadful loss seemed as if it must crush me, it has been lifted by the remembrance that, in Heaven, my dear one is now perfectly praising his Lord; and that, if I can sing, too, I shall even here on earth be joining him in holy service and acceptable worship.
How many of you, dear readers, will be “chief singers” unto our God, and resolve that, henceforth, His praise shall be continually in your mouth? Let us, each one, say to the Lord, with good Isaac Watts—
“Long as I live, I’ll bless Your Name,
My King, my God of love;
My work and joy shall be the same,
In the bright world above.”
She acknowledged her grief and loneliness, but also acknowledged that God is good. Here, ‘Susie’ Spurgeon focused on God’s goodness, the firm foundation of her faith, and the fact that her beloved husband is now with his beloved savior, worshiping Him in perfect glory.
Losing someone you love is not easy. Without Christ it’s almost impossible. But God…He knows the grief and loss that batters the Christian heart. He wept at Lazarus’ tomb.
To the folks that have lost someone recently, please know that I grieve with you. The loss of a friend, husband, family member or child is mournful. It is especially sad when we are fairly sure the loved one was not saved. But God…in His inscrutable ways, gives love to those whom He gives life, and death to whom he gives death. It’s not a comfort in the moment of highest grief, perhaps, nor a comfort in the deep of night’s loneliness, but is it a fact. A good fact. Cling to it, and perhaps if you are suffering, it may make the suffering a molecule less painful…
