Lighting Up Our City Video 6: Dealing With Hard Questions and DoubtsSample

Then Jesus…told the disciples, “Sit here with me while I go over there and pray…I am deeply grieved…Remain here and stay awake with me.” (Matt. 26:36, 38)

“Why is this happening?”

“How long is this pain going to last?”

“Will things ever get better?”

These are some of the hard questions I have asked in my own life when my life has come crashing down around me. I know that others have experienced similar times in their own lives—a miscarriage, an unwanted divorce, a terminal diagnosis, a broken relationship—to name a few of the deep pains we might experience throughout the course of our lives.

Unfortunately, we don’t always receive the best “answers” to those questions, even from well-meaning friends. All too often, we hear, “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” or “God works all things for our good.” While some scripture verses may be true, in the moment, they can sound like platitudes or “Christianese.” In the moment, they seem to be “fools [who] find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions” (Proverbs 18:2).

So, how do we best minister to those who are hurting so deeply? We are present. We sit with them, weep with them, and pray with them. We exercise the ministry of presence.

Jesus, in His darkest hour, invited His closest friends to come with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane. He tells them, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me” (Matthew 26:38). Jesus needs their ministry of presence when He knows death is coming and that it will be painful. Sadly, His closest friends couldn’t stay awake. But His Father was with Him in that dark hour. And our Father will be with us in our darkest hour, too.

And sometimes we also need someone who is physically present with us, to let us cry on their shoulder and grieve with us. They can stand in the gap when our faith is shaken until we are strong enough to stand on our own. And they can show compassion through their love and presence.

Where might you be called to give the ministry of presence to someone?

By Teresa Baumbach