20160214
Why do we seek closure? Most often “closure” is defined as “a bringing to an end; a conclusion”. People looking for closure go in search of a feeling of finality, or a resolution, an end to their time of pain. Often, those who go in search of closure are suffering mental anguish because they have questions that they want answers to. These painful questions, sadly, in many cases have no real easy answers. We all want certainty in our lives, and our human desire to find answers may sometimes result in the reopening of an issue that the Lord may have wanted closed. Sometimes, God may even be preventing us from achieving this self-sought “closure” to protect us from future hurt, though even in this we may never be certain.
Without closure, and without the answers we “need”, we often are unable to move on and forgive. However, the Bible teaches us to “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13). Without the understanding we desire, such forgiveness seems almost impossible to give. However, to “forgive as the Lord forgave you”, we are expected to forgive those who had caused us hurt regardless of our understanding of the situation. While we may never know the answer to the many “whys?” such an event would undoubtedly leave, we are able to have certainty in one thing – that all things good and bad are part of God’s perfect plan for our lives.
In Proverbs 3:5, we are instructed to “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”. While we may not understand the reasons for past pain, we can always trust in the Lord that He “’know[s] the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11). God is our one constant, even with the uncertainty life undoubtedly brings. With certainty and confidence in his plan, we accept that maybe some “whys?” are meant to be left unanswered and able to truly move on and forgive. After all, our ultimate certainty can be found in our true constant, the Lord himself who was able to forgive us of our sins, the greatest hurt of all. “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15).
