A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
Were you mystified as a child when you first heard Stephen Foster’s song, “Oh! Susanna, Don’t You Cry for Me”? Was it silly or supposed to be funny? What in the world did it really mean?
“It rained all night the day I left;
The weather was so dry.
The sun so hot
I froze to death.
Susanna, don’t you cry!
Published by Stephen foster in 1848, it was the most popular song of that era. My childish mind kept asking, “Was it day or night? Was it raining or dry? Hot or freezing? And if he was going to see her, why did tell her not to cry?” I puzzled over it. I wouldn’t have known the word “paradox,” but unlike most paradoxes, “Oh, Suzanna” doesn’t make sense even when you try to figure it out. Last week, in my daily Bible reading, I came across a phrase I’d often read, but it startled me because it was so clearly a paradox: how could both parts of the statement be true? (Of course they were true: this is the infallible Word of God without any errors of any kind, so this paradox is true—I just have to find out how!)
In Second Corinthians chapter six, Paul details the troubles he’d endured taking the Gospel to the boundaries of his world. He wrote, in verses 8 and 9, “We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. We are well known, but we are treated as unknown. We live close to death, but here we are, still alive. We have been beaten within an inch of our lives.”
Then comes the paradox of verse 10: Our hearts ache, but we always have joy.
Every one who reads this has suffered a great loss or disappointment in life. You have a heartache. Time may have deadened the sharpness of the pain, but it lurks close under the surface of your thoughts. Walt and I had 67 years of loving each other and sharing the Gospel with many people. I still grieve the loss daily (but mostly nightly). So how can it be that, with heartache, I can still “always have joy”? Not by a glib denial of how great the loss is. Not by pushing it out of mind and trying not to think about it. Not by minimizing the goodness of God’s gift. We will experience great joy as we focus on the great God whose love gave us those gifts. We will thank Him with a grateful heart for all the blessings He continues to shower on us. Yes, our hearts ache, but we can always have joy. How? By intentionally resting in the presence of God, laying before Him every heartache.
I have set the LORD always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope. . . .
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:8-11.