When all of life caves in, what then? My friend lost his wife years ago. She was the light of his eyes, and he was her strength. She played the piano in church and they danced through life together. She developed a neuromuscular disease, and he watched her lose the ability to use her hands and her voice. Then one day she went home to be with the Lord. What would you do if you lost the most precious person in your life? What would you say? Could you speak, at all?
Ezekiel lost his wife, too. God decided to speak to his people through Ezekiel’s grief. He told the prophet not to grieve outwardly over her death. So Ezekiel preached in the morning and his wife died that evening. Ezekiel obeyed God and remained silent.
This loss became a parable of the loss of the temple for the people of Israel. Their pride and joy would be taken away, but they were not to publicly mourn. Is it just me, or would this be difficult? The temple symbolized the presence of God in Israel. When their enemies destroyed it, Israel felt like they had lost everything. But on that day, like Ezekiel, they were to stay silent. And on that day Ezekiel spoke again.
Nothing complicates grief like guilt. Virtus Gideon was a favorite professor when I was in seminary. I graded papers for his class in Houston. He invited me to study for my Ph. D. at Southwestern and nominated me for the President’s award. After prayer, Melanie and I decided not to continue to commute to Fort Worth but to study for my doctorate at Baylor. Virtus tried to talk me out of it. We disagreed. I started my studies and things were going well. I meant to call him. Then one day I received the news that he had died suddenly. I was stricken silent. My Family can tell you I am rarely silent. But I could find no words. Grief and guilt combined in a toxic elixir.
Melanie and I wondered how I would preach if I could not speak. After three or four days we drove up to Fort Worth for his funeral. I was inconsolable until the moment we began to sing in that great auditorium. As others sang, God gave me a voice to sing and speak again. I preached the next morning. I still believe that God healed me through the power of those hymns. He removed my guilt and comforted me in my grief.
