When Darkness Is Your Closest Friend: Navigating Grief with Faith

We explore the sacred bond of marriage, biblical leadership requirements, and finding hope in times of grief through Scripture and historical wisdom from Andrew Jackson.

• Making time for God and reading the Bible should be our priority
• Marriage is a unique "one flesh" relationship out of seven billion people on earth
• Biblical leadership starts with managing your own household well
• Psalm 88 honestly expresses feelings of abandonment and despair
• Andrew Jackson's letters offer Christian comfort for those experiencing loss
• As Christians, we have hope in reunion through Christ
• Nothing we can do earns salvation—it's a free gift from God

If you're looking for a family-friendly read for your kids or grandkids, I humbly recommend "Countryside." You can find it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble in hardcopy, paperback, and e-book formats. If you enjoy it, please leave a review.

Transcript

Welcome and Opening Prayer

Speaker 1 0:01

Hey folks , this is Jesse Cope , back with another episode of the American Soul Podcast . Hope y'all are doing well , wherever y'all are and whatever part of the day you're in . Sure do appreciate you joining me , giving me a little bit of your time and attention , a little piece of your day . I will try and use it wisely . For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others , tell others about it . Thank you for those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast . Thank you Very , very grateful for your prayers , father . Thank you for today . Thank you for you , father , and your Son , jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit . Thank you for your and your Son , jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit . Thank you for your love and your mercy , your grace and your forgiveness of sins . For all your many blessings , father , the ones we admit and the ones we don't , for whatever reason . Thank you for the time to record this podcast and the people that listen to it and share it . Please be with their families . Be with them . Comfort those who are brokenhearted . Comfort those who are scared , who are alone . Help us to feel your presence , father , your peace , your joy and your comfort . Strengthen our faith . Forgive us our sins . Father , remove anything from our lives that separates us from you , that takes us away from you . Forgive us our iniquities that are stacked up over our heads . Forgive us when we go back to the same old sins time and time again . Help us to truly love your son , jesus Christ , and therefore to follow his commands , to love you with our whole heart , soul , mind and strength , and to love our neighbors as ourselves . Be with our military and our law enforcement , firefighters , ems workers . Comfort them , keep them safe , give them wisdom and courage and a strong faith . Bring them home safe to their families . Protect them from evil . And God , my words here Father , please , in your son's name , we pray Amen . Have you made time for God

Making Time for God and Marriage

Speaker 1 2:38

today ? Have you made time for Jesus Christ ? Have you made time to read your Bible ? What a great gift , blessing privilege that is , and yet so often I rush through it . Just put a check in the box Because I have other priorities . Right , I have other things that are more important than reading the Bible . The Bible If you're married , does your spouse know it ?

Speaker 1 3:16

Do you know what your roles and responsibilities are as either a husband or a wife from Scripture ? Do you know where to find them ? Can you quote them ? Do you act on them ? Can you quote them ? Do you act on them ? Do you follow them ? Christ tells us that if we really love him , we follow his commands . Love the Lord , your God , with all your heart , soul , mind and strength . Right , that's the first one . The second one , the greatest , at least . Love our neighbors as ourselves . And who's our closest neighbor if we're married ? Are we loving our spouse ?

Speaker 1 3:59

Verse for marriage today is from Genesis 2 , verse 24 . A number of places you can find this in the Bible . Therefore , shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife , and they shall be one flesh . We don't give enough authority . We don't give enough authority to God today . We don't give enough authority to god today . We don't give enough authority to the word cleave .

Speaker 1 4:27

Also , folks , if you don't get up each day , if you didn't go into marriage wanting to spend , to constantly be around your spouse , interact with your spouse , touch your spouse , love your spouse , that is probably a pretty good indication that you should have gotten a business partnership or a roommate instead of a spouse . Instead of a spouse , we've become one flesh . Folks , there's no other relationship that you can do that with Not a single other relationship in all the world that you will ever have , even as I say jokingly even if you live in one of those countries around the world today that allows polygamy . You're still talking about two or three out of seven billion folks . Can you imagine the worth of a coin ? If there was only one coin made a certain way out of seven billion coins , can you imagine how much that would be worth Out of seven billion coins , can you imagine how much that would be worth ? And yet we have a living , breathing human being that is one out of seven billion . How do we treat them ? Do we cleave to them ? Are we one flesh with them ?

Speaker 1 6:01

Scripture reading for

Biblical Leadership Requirements

Speaker 1 6:04

today . We're going to start with 1 Timothy 3 , verses 1-16 . This is a trustworthy saying . Excuse me , if someone aspires to be a church leader , he desires an honorable position . So a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach . He must be faithful to his wife . He must exercise self-control , live wisely and have a good reputation . He must enjoy having guests in his home and he must be able to teach . He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent . He must be gentle , not quarrelsome , and not love money . He must manage his own family well , having children who respect and obey him . For if a man cannot manage his own household , how can he take care of God's church ? A church leader must not be a new believer , because he might become proud and the devil would cause him to fall . Also , people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil's trap .

Speaker 1 7:07

In the same way , deacons must be well respected and have integrity . They must not be heavy drinkers or dishonest with money . They must be committed to the mystery of the faith now revealed and must live with a clear conscience . Before they are appointed as deacons , let them be closely examined . If they pass the test , then let them serve as deacons . In the same way , their wives must be respected and must not slander others . They must exercise self-control and be faithful in everything they do . A deacon must be faithful to his wife and he must manage his children and his household well . Those who do well as deacons will be rewarded with respect from others and will have increased confidence in their faith in Christ Jesus .

Speaker 1 7:56

I am writing these things to you now , even though I hope to be with you soon , so that , if I am delayed , you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God . This is the church of the living God , which is the pillar and foundation of the truth . Without question . This is the great mystery of our faith . Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit . He was seen by angels and announced to the nations . He was Psalm 88 , verses 1 through 18 .

Speaker 1 8:35

O Lord , god of my salvation , I cry out to you by day . I come to you at night . Now hear my prayer , listen to my cry , for my life is full of troubles and death draws near . I am as good as dead , like a strong man with no strength left . They have left me among the dead and I lie like a strong man with no strength left . They have left me among the dead and I lie like a corpse in the grave .

Speaker 1 9:04

I am forgotten , cut off from your care . You have thrown me into the lowest pit , into the darkest depths . Your anger weighs me down With wave after wave . You have engulfed me . You have driven my friends away by making me repulsive to them . I am in a trap , with no way of escape . My eyes are blinded by my tears Each day . I beg for your help , o Lord . I lift my hands to you for mercy . Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead ? Do the dead rise up and praise you ? Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love ? Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction ? Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds ? Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness ? O Lord , I cry out to you . I will keep on pleading , day by day . O Lord , why do you reject me ? Why do you turn your face from me ? I have been sick and close to death since my youth . I stand helpless and desperate before your terrors . Your fierce anger has overwhelmed

Psalm 88: Crying Out in Darkness

Speaker 1 10:15

me . Your terrors have paralyzed me . They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long . They have engulfed me completely . You have taken away my companions and loved ones . Darkness is my closest friend . Proverbs 25 , verses 20 through 22 .

Speaker 1 10:34

Singing cheerful songs to a person with a heavy heart is like taking someone's coat in cold weather or pouring vinegar in a wound . If your enemies are hungry , give them food to eat . If they are thirsty , give them water to drink . You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads and the Lord will reward you when you go back to Timothy , chapter 3 , and you look at the requirements for those who aspire to be a church leader or a deacon , there's two things that you'll notice . One is the fact that , as a church leader , you have to be able to control your own home . Right , and that really applies across a bunch of fields , not just in the church . If a man can't control his own home , how is he going to lead in the church and business and academia , etc , the military , etc , etc . Right ? The other , though , is you'll notice that the church leader and the deacon are lifestyles , support , encouragement , which is not a good thing . Folks , it's never a positive to encourage someone in sin , whether you're talking about adultery , abortion , feminism , abortion , feminism , lgbtq lifestyles , no-fault divorce , theft , gossip , slander , greed , covetousness , right , there's never a positive .

Speaker 1 12:43

Medal of Honor for . Off the coast of Chile , on board the USS Ospy , june 20 , 1872 , risking his life , benson leaped into the sea while the ship was going at a speed of four knots and endeavored to save John K Smith , landsman of the same vessel , from drowning . Accredited to Yokohama , japan , awarded posthumously no , presented 1872 , born 1842 , denmark . Died August 4 , 1890 , boston Harbor , massachusetts . Buried Woodlawn Cemetery , chelsea , massachusetts , pi Grave 26 . James Benson . That's an interesting accreditation to Yokohama , japan . There's got to be some more to that story .

Speaker 1 13:44

The history quotes for today are actually going to come from Andrew Jackson , who was our seventh president , lawyer , congressman , us senator , judge on the Tennessee Supreme Court . Nickname was Old Hickory , major general in the Army winning the Battle of New Orleans . But before I get to that , I don't know how many of y'all are struggling with this in your own life , the lives of your friends

Finding Comfort in Loss

Speaker 1 14:24

, but this fascination of Charlie Burke has really bothered me . I said that on a previous podcast and I kind of thought it would go away . I've been around death before in my life it's not unique both in the normal passing of time and in circumstances where it seemed a life was cut short or didn't seem that way it was , and for some reason this is really bothering me . I didn't know Mr Kirk I don't even know that much about him really , although I'm learning more after his assassination but I wanted to try and read some quotes that offered a little bit of comfort to us as Christians and hopefully will draw some others toward Christ .

Speaker 1 15:30

President Jackson wrote to Mary and Andrew Jackson Hutchings on the death of their firstborn in 1834 . My dear Hutchings , I am truly happy to find that you have met the severe bereavement with that Christian meekness and submission , as was your duty . This charming babe was only given you from your Creator and benefactor . He has a right to take away and we ought humbly to submit to His will and be always ready to say Blessed be His name . We have one consolation under this severe bereavement that this babe is now in the bosom of its Savior . At another point he wrote a letter to the family of General Coffey who had died . Rely on our dear Savior . He will be father to the fatherless and husband to the widow . Trust in the mercy and goodness of Christ and always be ready to say with heartfelt resignation may the Lord's will be done .

Speaker 1 16:51

There's a number of others that we could read from him and from other great leaders who have offered consolation to people , but I wanted to read one from June 8 , 1845 , just a little bit before his death , and by a little bit I mean minutes . He called his family and servants to his bedside my dear children , do not grieve for me . It is true , I am going to leave you . I am well aware of my situation . I have suffered much bodily pain , but my sufferings are , but as nothing compared with that which our blessed Redeemer endured upon the accursed cross . That all might be saved who put their trust in him . God will take care of you . For me . I am my God's , I belong to him . I go but a short time before you and I hope and trust to meet you all in heaven , both white and black .

Speaker 1 18:06

If you have lost someone recently , or know someone that has , or if there's a loss in your life , that's , maybe it's not recent , maybe it's a while back , maybe it's somebody you don't even know , like Charlie Kirk and his family , I would offer up two things . One pray and support and encourage those who are left behind . Two , remember that as Christians we don't grieve without hope . We have hope because of Jesus Christ . We have the ultimate hope , the greatest hope there is . The only real hope there is that we are going to be reunited with those we love in heaven because of Jesus Christ , because of him alone . Nothing we can do , folks . There's absolutely nothing you can do to earn that salvation and eternal life . For me , it's a free gift that God gives . And cling to that hope and try and share that hope with others and try and lead others to obtaining that hope if they have it A little bit lighter

Closing Thoughts and Recommendations

Speaker 1 19:39

. Note at the end If you are looking for kind of a fun , family-friendly read for your kids or grandkids , I would humbly recommend Countryside .

Speaker 1 19:49

There's a couple books in the series . You can find it on Amazon Barnes Noble hard copy paperback e-book and , if you enjoy it , if you would leave a review , I would appreciate it . God bless you all . God bless your families , god bless your marriages , god bless America . God bless your nation . Wherever you are around the world listening , we'll talk to you all again real soon . Folks Looking forward to it .