Pastor's Column June 2021
Place All Things in God’s Hands
I can’t stand the infuriating feeling of having lost something. I chose this topic for a newsletter article after searching for almost two hours trying to find a misplaced item. I had printed out a remittance form for my annual dues to the Society of the Holy Trinity. There was also an addressed, stamped envelope that I had printed. I searched my office, the rest of the church, and several rooms of the parsonage before finding it crumpled up in a bag with other items. How did even get there? What’s more is I had already looked there once and didn’t see it.
Here’s another recent example. A couple weeks ago I realized my truck keys were missing. Eventually I came down to my office and found them laying on my desk. I picked them up and quickly got distracted by a simple task of placing some books back on the shelf. It only took about 30 seconds. When I started to leave my office, I realized my keys were gone again. They were completely out of sight. I had found that which was lost, and in the space of 30 seconds, lost it again! Choice words were uttered in that moment!
Again, it’s infuriating to me. I get angry that I’m wasting so much time looking for things that should not be lost. I’m embarrassed by how my life is such a disorganized clutter that things are so easily misplaced and quickly lost. I’m amazed by how a simple and quick distraction can totally disorient me. None of us are strangers to losing things. Some of us may lose or misplace things daily. I don’t expect that will ever change. Loss is a part of this life. Beyond the trivial losses of misplaced items, we face all kinds of greater losses. Maybe it’s a loss of a job or other income you have relied upon. Perhaps it’s the loss of a close relationship that has become broken. Then there are those losses due to that old foe known as death. These are all painful losses that leave voids in our lives.
Perhaps those trivial little losses of misplaced items simply remind me of those greater losses and that’s what fuels the intense emotions. But as searched for that missing envelope and payment form the other night, I was suddenly reminded of some wise words from Martin Luther from a 1530 letter written to his friend Justus Jonas. Luther wrote:
“I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.”
Yes, Luther is correct. As broken human beings, certainly many things we have attempted to hold in our hands have truly slipped through our fingers. Luther’s words provide the comfort of a holy reminder for us. We may sometimes have an overwhelming experience of loss in this life, but we have truly lost nothing that we have placed in God’s care.
All things we have come by the gracious giving of our God. If we are aware of our human shortcomings it only makes sense to commend those things to his care and to his service. God will never lose sight of us, nor will he lose that which we have commended to his care and keeping. Even our loved ones who have died in the faith have been commended to his care in the Church Triumphant. Therefore, they are not truly lost to us. Rather they remain with us gathered around the altar singing, “Holy is the Lord.” Meanwhile, whatever we have gained or lost in this life, remember that earthly things are meager compared to being found in Christ and being a prized possession of God the Father. Therefore, we do commend ourselves, our bodies and souls, and all we have to our Lord.