My youngest child was running, playing and having a fun time at home. As she ran around a corner race car drivers wouldn’t even speed through, she fell down and hurt her foot, beginning to cry. Her cry and subsequent call for help let us know us that something was wrong. Not seeing what happened to her, and being unaware of what brought our daughter to tears, my wife and I rushed toward our daughter’s side to care for her, while asking the question … “What’s The Matter?”
What’s the matter?
It is the question we ask when we see a change in the countenance of our loved ones but do not know what has caused it.
What’s the matter?
It is the question we may even ask ourselves when tears fill the eyes of someone we know or love — someone visibly hurt, visibly shaken or even openly threatened.
What’s the matter?
It is a question born out of the concern for the witnessed distress in the lives of the people we care for, helping us to clarify the cause of the distress, formulating a compassionate response within a caregiver, prompting an investigation of a solution that might bring relief.
It is the question we ask when compassion moves from being a concept or theory and segues into a pragmatic expression.
What’s the matter?
Compassion is expressed in Saul’s inquiry found in 1 Samuel 11:5, “What is the matter with the people that they weep?” In other words, “What is the matter? What has caused them to cry?”
The messengers have just brought national news of distress that has caused the people to cry. After Saul’s inquiry, they inform him that the kingdom is under attack.
The kingdom is under attack, and Saul, the new king, doesn’t come to address the matter from a kingly throne. Instead, he comes to address the matter after coming in from the field behind the oxen.
Oh no! The kingdom is under attack … and the new king of the kingdom is coming into the situation room with mud on his sandals, smelling like animals and asking, “What is the matter?”
I can imagine at least one person thinking, “It would have been better if we had a seasoned king or at least someone who was familiar with dealing with matters such as these!” That one person may have even been … Saul!
There are times in our lives when we have to face matters that experience, knowledge and planning have not afforded us the opportunity to prepare for. There are moments in our lives when we are called to lead and when we are called to follow, though we may be inexperienced and novice to the matters presented in the situation room.
God desires to give us salvation, even when we face trials that we are unprepared for. That is why I love the next verse:
“Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily …”
You don’t necessarily have to be seasoned to be able to recognize and alleviate matters of distress within the lives of the people around you; you just need the Spirit of God.
You don’t necessarily have to be the expert in handling the matters that bring pain, fear and despair; you just need the Spirit of God.
God will support you; He will back you up when He sees that you care about His people. He desires to deliver His people from distress and He desires to use you in the process, experienced or inexperienced.
So the next time you hear cries of distress and you begin to ask, “What’s the matter?” know the Spirit of God desires to strengthen you, His child, so that through you, His child, others can be comforted.
—Carl Ricketts Jr., MDiv, is director of Chaplain Services for Loma Linda University Medical Center.
