Even in laughter the heart may ache … — Proverbs 14:13
I know someone who is a closet alcoholic. She does not know that her thirst for alcohol is really a thirst for Christ. She does not know how to drink deep from God’s Spirit so that the parched and aching places in her soul might be soothed and comforted. She lives in fear that others will discover that she, a Christian, struggles with this hidden shame. There are so many aching and hurting places in her heart, that she abandons hope, opens the bottle, and prays for heaven to take her away.
Even in laughter the heart may ache. We know, I think, that everybody needs somebody safe, someone who can be trusted with secret pain. Even so, sometimes pain remains hidden.
God is the Keeper of our secrets — NOT keeper in the sense that He wants us to hide from one another what should be brought out into the light, but, rather, Keeper in the sense of One who tends and cares for.
Why is God tending our secrets? Why does He look down from heaven at the things we cannot bring ourselves to share with anyone? I think it is because His supply of goodness knows no end. I think it is because He can swallow up every hopeless tragedy with hope, with possibility. He takes the sting out of death. Even while they were driving the nails into Christ’s hands, His mind was on the resurrection and Christ’s eternal rule over men.
There’s much that could be said here. I’ve typed over a page, and I’m going to delete most of it before I send this to you. But please know that God is near, that He is the One who speaks peace to the storm within.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
Dwight Clough is the author of four Christian books and is an active member of Lake City Church in Madison. This devotional is also available via email and you may review the archives back to 2002. To contact Dwight or Kim, use their contact form. You may also support their ministry.