I had read many papers, but the crushing she described stood out among the rest.
Unfortunately, teachers don’t always know or get involved in the details of their students’ lives. And I hadn’t in hers. She was a new student who had transferred in from a neighboring school after the first semester. I rarely saw her talking to her peers, and I’m not sure she said one word to me in the first nine weeks after she arrived at our school. But then, I read her story.
One assignment I gave entailed the students writing about an event that had impacted their lives. A few wrote about sports, and a few more wrote about grandparents dying. One penned a story about a family squabble and a resulting death. Another noted how a pet’s death had impacted him. More than I imagined wrote about broken families. One new student told how bad behavior had led him from his previous school and to our school. He seemed glad for another chance.
But this one student talked about her parents’ divorce. She was six when she witnessed her dad pack his suitcase and leave their home. At that age, not only did she lose a dad, but she also lost her best friend. Because her mom was in the military, the moves that followed took her far away from her dad, giving her few opportunities to see him during the year. Now, as a teen, she still felt the weight of the crushing.
David, too, felt crushing times. “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed” (Psalm 34:18 NLT).
When one of David’s own sons rebelled and took the kingdom from him—chasing him out of town in the process. When a jealous king tried to kill him. And when he felt the weight of his sins against God.
Perhaps most of our life’s crushings come from events we cannot control. The world throws us a curve ball. Nature behaves unruly. Others reject or harm us. A fair number come, however, because we choose paths or actions forbidden by God.
Either way, God is there for us during the crushings. When they are our fault, our confession draws God near where he will pick us up, comfort us, and set us on our feet again. And when they come from others or living in a sinful world, God will give us wisdom and strength to move ahead.
When I finished reading my young student’s story—and wiping the tears from my eyes—I emailed her back, told her how glad I was that she had shared her story, and reminded her that God will help us through our life-crushing experiences.
We all will experience crushings, but God will walk us through each one if we reach out and take his hand. Have you?