Songwriter Brandon Heath’s 2011 album Leaving Eden describes a very real thing all of us go through who have suffered the loss of our hopes and dreams at the hand of our own sin and that of others.
We tend to look upon our own losses, such as divorce and separation, as “our own thing” a private pain unique to us. However, what we need to see is that our loss is a part of the overall human loss suffered at the “ground zero” of sin, when Adam and Eve rebelled against God and had to leave Eden.
Christ, in addressing divorce in Matthew 19 reminds of that broken relationships and divorce was not part of God’s hope for us. Christ says “But it was not this way from the beginning.”
We need to mourn our losses and move on into forgiveness. The only way to move on from all this world of pain, brokeness, and heartache is to have a place to go that has the forgiveness we need. This place is Christ, and as David says in Psalm 9:9 “The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.” Christ has a plan for you and for all this world to make things right and to restore that which was taken by sin from our lives. He promises in Isaiah 61:3 to “to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” Ultimately in Christ says “Behold, I am making all things new” Rev 21:5.
In “When the Boat Sinks” David Wilkerson talks about when Paul’s ship to Rome sinks. The Lord will sometimes allow the thing we fear to happen – the divorce, the health crises, the death of a loved one. Yet like Paul’s ship, the very breakup is a vehicle the Lord uses to spread His salvation. From Paul’s ship sinking came a series of miracles: no people on the ship died, they all made it safely to shore, and they and many on the island where the ship sank saw miracles of healing in their midst through Paul.