On May 21, 2008, Christian singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman began living the anguished cry of another musician, David, who penned these words found in Psalm 13: “How long, Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?”
A week before the fateful day, the Chapman family had celebrated the 5th birthday of Maria Sue, their adopted daughter from China. But the 21st would be marked by tragedy as Maria and two of her sisters played in the yard. Maria reached for the monkey bars, but she wasn’t tall enough, and her sisters couldn’t lift her that high.
Just then the sisters heard 17-year-old brother Will coming up the driveway in a Toyota Land Cruiser. He could lift Maria! In eager anticipation, the girl ran toward the vehicle. Will never saw her.
Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, took turns at CPR and calling for help. A Life Flight helicopter flew Maria to Vanderbilt hospital in Nashville, where she was pronounced dead.
“We didn’t know how we were going to take the next breath,” Chapman recalls. “I’d go to where nobody could hear me and scream until my voice was almost gone. It sure didn’t and still doesn’t make sense. It’s a completely unfixable, broken-beyond-repair situation until heaven. In heaven, and only in heaven, will this make sense.”
Like David, have you wondered why God is hiding? Like Steven, have you screamed aloud? Has the loss of a loved one devastated you? Have you been betrayed? Faced terminal illness? Come from a broken family? Been ashamed of life choices? Felt hopeless?
Years before the death of his little daughter, Chapman penned the words and music of “My Redeemer Is Faithful and True”—a testimony of trusting God, come what may. Among the lyrics:
As I look back on this road I’ve traveled,
I see so many times He’s carried me through;
And if there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my life,
My Redeemer is faithful and true.
My Redeemer is faithful and true.
Everything He has said, He will do,
And every morning His mercies are new.
My Redeemer is faithful and true.
Few things, if any, in this world are faithful and true. Yet, amid shifting sands and the fickle tides of human existence, God’s faithfulness forms a firm foundation for faith. In the good and in the bad, He’s there. He’ll never change. He’ll never fail His children.
Our world needs hope and the promises of God more now than ever before, Chapman says.
Among these promises, God has said He will wipe away all tears. One day there will be no more death, sorrow, crying or pain. Everything He has said, He will do. Let’s share the promises and the hope, looking forward to the day.