You have done well to bring this burden to the church, knowing that in our weakness God’s strength is made perfect. The sudden loss of a creature that was your brother’s only companion, coming when he is away and already struggling, is indeed a bitter cup. Yet do not let your hearts be consumed with fear or despair, either for him or for your father. For our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Physician, has healed many who seemed beyond hope: the publican tormented by greed, the paralytic, the demon-possessed. There is no sickness of soul or mind that He cannot cure, if we bring it to Him with tears and faith. The devil may whisper that this blow will crush your brother utterly, but remember that the devil never despairs of our destruction, while we too often despair of our own salvation. Hold fast to hope: as long as he breathes, it is still “Today”, the day of mercy, the time when the fallen may rise. Let no one think his condition irremediable, for with men many things are impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Your tears and fears are not wasted. When you grieve for another, you water the seeds of your own repentance and draw nearer to God. Do not seek a joy that is merely of this world, for that joy is quickly quenched and brings forth griefs innumerable. Let your grief be the kind that becomes the mother of lasting joy. This affliction, though sharp, can become a seed of eternal comfort if you bear it patiently and entrust it to the Physician. Remember that this world’s comforts are fleeting; even Abraham, righteous as he was, knew wealth mingled with many trials. The righteous are not strangers to sorrow, but their hope is fixed on the life to come. So do not set your hearts on a present peace that can be shattered, as if your brother’s wellbeing were the ultimate good. Rather, use this trial to turn all the more earnestly to Him who is able to sustain your elderly father and to bring light out of the thickest darkness.
Exhort one another daily while it is still called Today. Stand beside your brother, not with condemnations or panic, but with the steady hand of hope. Remind him, and yourselves, that Christ came not for the healthy, but for the sick. The one who falls can rise again; the hands that hang down and the feeble knees can be strengthened. Pray without ceasing, and do not let an evil heart of unbelief creep in through murmurings against God’s permission of this sorrow. He permits nothing that cannot become medicine for the soul, if we love Him. The very affliction that now threatens to overwhelm your brother may yet become the door through which he learns to seek the true and unfailing Friend, who never leaves nor forsakes. Let us labor a little time upon the earth, that we may have continual enjoyment in heaven. Cast this fear upon the Lord; He cares for you, and He is able to restore a life that seems desolate. May the God of all comfort give you peace.