You’ve Got to Cope

Synopsis     Joshua 24:29-Judges 1:6     5/30/2018

Joshua died at the age of 110 years. He was buried in his adopted town of Timnath-serah, in the mountains of Ephraim.

It was noted that the patriarch Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had carried throughout the exodus from Egypt, were finally buried at Shechem.  Similarly, the high priest Eleazar died and was buried on the hill that was given to Phinehas, his son.

After Joshua’s death, the Israelites consulted the Lord. Judah was selected to lead the next phase of conquest.

The Loss of a Nation

So how does this feel to the Israelites? As long as they had known God, Joshua had been around. He served at Moses’ right hand. He dwelt at the tent of meeting day and night. He led the army. He took up the mantel when Moses died.

And suddenly he was dead and there is no obvious person to replace him. The grief and the sadness were only eclipsed by the uncertainty of what might happen next.

You’ve Got to Cope

Grief is the emotion that emerges as a result of loss. It is the desire to retain something that has been lost, irretrievably, forever. It’s an eternity-sized frustration. My mind cannot imagine life without the thing that was lost. As a result, I can’t reconcile myself to the loss without feeling the pain of the loss. And I don’t want that pain.

But loss is a natural and unavoidable part of life. As it turns out, a big part of life. Death, divorce, abandonment; I don’t want any of it. Yet it comes nonetheless. And somehow I have to deal with it.

Interestingly, the grief of loss is always a watershed moment – it invariably drives me in one of two directions. I will either seek out things that absolutely endure so the loss can’t affect me again. Or, I will try my hardest to think about something else.

If I decide to try to forget, I end up hiding from the pain that I can’t reconcile. Sometimes I use drugs or alcohol, or libertine indulgence, or I eat far too many cheese puffs or I find some new friends and worship their god – though deep-down I know it is no, true, “God”. Whatever I choose, I’ll find a way to keep the pain at bay for as long as possible. I’ll find a way to cope – but not really cope. I remain affected. I’m afraid. I’m withdrawn. I’m alone in a room of people I call friends. There’s a cup in my hand and a smile on my face yet I’m filled with despair.

But if instead of hiding I look for things that cannot be taken away, I find only one real answer: The God of all creation. I can never lose Him, and I will never be lost by Him. My all-in-all.

“one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” Eph 4:6