When you have learnt to live with loss it can be difficult to receive good news. It can be too good to be true. Grief can reshape your expectations. You don’t jump as quick to believe. Cynicism becomes a protection. Broken hearts that have arrived at settled realities are not easy to repair. Living under the shadow of loss for a long time can make us sceptical of anything good.
“So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. And Israel said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” (Genesis 45:25–28)
Jacob was stunned with disbelief. Twenty years of grief had done their work. His heart had learned to live inside the darkness of loss, and a heart like that does not easily let light back in.
Then came the carts. These proved to be the evidence of a son who was not only alive but powerful enough to send for his father. The sight of them said what words could not: this is real.
Can you see the gospel vocabulary? This is resurrection language. A man long dead inside was made alive again. His cold heart caught fire at the evidence of grace. Sorrow was replaced with joy, It is like the disciples on that first Easter Sunday morning, who also found the news too good to be true, who also needed more than words, who also moved from stunned silence to convinced belief.
“I’m convinced,” Jacob announces. He hasn’t yet seen with his own eyes but he believes! Faith did not wait for sight. This father would never be the same again.
Even a heart shaped by loss is still capable of coming alive again.
Missions Paul 