Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week I shared just a few of the ways Micah and I have been able to see God’s sovereign and guiding hand of blessing in our lives through the tragic loss of our little Hannah Lynn.

From providing us with the help and support we needed to moving people to extreme generosity, we have seen God in the midst of the deepest grief.

It’s so plain to us that God knew what was ahead for us and He was prepared.

Knowing God through Grief

It brings to life what God said in Isaiah 46:9-10: “I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is no one like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’”

What peace it brings in the midst of trials and tragedy to know that nothing, absolutely nothing will prevent God’s plan and purpose from being accomplished.

From Jeremiah 29:11, we learn that God’s plan for His people is to have a hope and a future, and from Romans 8:28 we also learn that God works all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

There is no doubt then that God’s purposes will always result in good things for His children.

All of these examples of God’s blessing also bring to mind Psalm 46.

We have truly lived Psalm 46 and know for a fact it’s words are true.

1 God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

Selah

Life is full of things that cause us trouble.

The psalm pictures earthquakes, landslides, and ocean waves crashing violently into the cliffside, but these things are just a representation of all the things in life we may be afraid of.

There are also hurricanes, blizzards, forest fires, tsunamis, tornadoes, wars, persecution, loss, pain, failing health, death…through all of these things, God is still the refuge and strength and help for those who trust Him and have faith in Jesus.

The Psalm continues:

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy habitation of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;

God will help her when morning dawns.

6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

7 The LORD of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah

The image here is of the city of Jerusalem as it sits on a hill between the Kidron Valley and the Valley Hinnom.

There are streams that become tributaries of the Jordan river located east of Jerusalem.

These rivers and streams bring life and joy to God’s people represented by the Holy City Jerusalem.

What an image this is of God taking care of His people.

Jerusalem is representative of everyone who trusts in Jesus and the streams and river represent the Jesus, the living water that brings eternal life and joy and prosperity to all who are invited to drink from it.

God takes care of His people, and even though nations rage and kingdoms and governments fall, God can end it all with a single command.

The LORD of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Having twice reminded us that God is a safe place for all who trust in Him, the Psalm concludes with a declaration of God’s power over all the world and a call to rest in peace:

8 Come, behold the works of the LORD,

how he has brought desolations on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

he burns the chariots with fire.

10 “Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!”

11 The LORD of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

When everything seems wrong, when families fall apart, when injustice seems to go unpunished, when parents bury their children, God’s call to us is to be still and know that He is God and there is no other, He is God, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.”

So that leaves us with the question from before: what is God’s purpose?

According to Psalm 46, God’s purpose is that ultimately that He will be exalted among the nations, and that He will be exalted in all the earth.

That purpose might not immediately seem like anything special to us.

Our minds think in terms of what we might gain, and it seems like all the gain belongs to God.

Yet the wonderful truth of the matter is that God’s gain, the exaltation of His name in all the earth, also means gain for those who belong to Him.

Jesus said in John 17:3 that eternal life is to know God and Jesus whom God sent to the earth.

The more we know God then, the more we experience right now the benefits and joys of our eternal life.

Therefore, if God is known and exalted in all the earth, the faithful in Jesus share all the more in the greatest and purest pleasure we could ever know.

Hannah’s death has allowed us to know a little bit more the absolute glory of God through His ever-present tender love and care, and our grief has drawn us closer to Jesus, our eternal hope and salvation who has never left us.

Author, speaker, and Quadriplegic Joni Erickson Tada said once, “When life is rosy, we may slide by with knowing about Jesus, with imitating Him and quoting Him and speaking of Him.

But only in suffering will we know Jesus.”

If the only thing the suffering and grief caused by Hannah’s death did was cause us to know Jesus more, than the suffering was worth it.

And if this is all that Hannah’s life accomplished, then what an accomplished life it was, that she should be used by God to draw others closer to Him! What a blessing it is to be the father of a tiny little girl who helped me and others to become more aware of God’s faithfulness and to know Jesus more.

Her brief nine-month life has brought to us a heavenly joy directly from the throne of God that has literally changed us for all eternity.

God has redeemed a tragic loss by bringing eternal gain, and while we still grieve her death, our grief is tempered with the joy of having gotten to know God that much more.

We still find ourselves crying at times throughout the days and wondering what Hannah would have been like…wishing we could hold her hand and watch her grow up into a beautiful woman.

As a father, I wanted nothing more than to have a little girl to love…and I still have that desire, and I struggle still with my own desires verses God’s perfect purpose.

But through it all, we have joy and peace through the Spirit of God who ministers daily to our spirits.

We are imperfect in our faith, but God is perfect in His faithfulness, and we are learning more and more about Him every day.

We are grateful to God for the encouragement all of you have been to us and will continue to be, and we pray that God will continue to transform our little church for the glory of the name of Jesus.

Amen.