Dear Rachel
To say that I was happy when I received your letter would be an understatement. Though it has been a while since I wrote to you, it feels like only yesterday.
Little did I expect you to turn away from your decision to marry him, even though your church and I kept pleading with you. And oh! how thankful am I for your church. They faithfully and lovingly stuck by you, doing their utmost to bring you back into the path of obedience. It is a wonderful thing to walk in obedience to God, because that is where Christ our joy is.
Your letter to me was brief and not wasteful with words, yet I did snatch a few glimpses into your heart, despite your brevity.
Two things did I glimpse, one that brought a smile to my face and the other laid a heavy weight upon my heart.
First about the smile, yes? You mentioned Colossians 2:16–17 and as you rightly put it, Paul was pointing out how all the Jewish festivals and rituals was actually a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ himself. It made you wonder how a lot of things that we see in this world and in the Bible is either a reflection of God or a foreshadowing of Jesus, just as marriage is a foreshadowing of a greater Marriage as written in Ephesians 5.
I like to put it like this: Marriage is similar to that of the shadow of a mountain. When you look at the shadow, you see the outlines and how big it is. Then you turn to look at the object that is casting the shadow, and you understand that the substance belongs with the object. The shadow doesn’t make a whole lot of sense till you look at the object casting the shadow.
That makes marriage more weighty than we thought it was, doesn’t it?
Now for the other matter; I know you’ve been weary. Of course you didn’t mention these things directly, but I gleaned it from your brief words to me. Though you’re glad that you didn’t disobey God so conspicuously with your marriage, yet the loss of the prospect of a married life is weighing on you.
There is a gaping hole in your heart and you feel like you’ve reached the end of your rope. The pain that all this is causing cannot be denied neither should it be brushed aside.
Dear sister, I hope you can take all these concerns to the Lord. See in the Bible how David responds in Psalm 63, when he was seemingly at the end of his rope. He was fleeing from Absalom his son, who took his throne. David, the real king, was weary and tired in the wilderness.
What does he say in response? “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
And because he is weary and thirsty for God, where does he look? He looks to God, beholding His power and glory. Why? Because God’s “steadfast love is better than life”.
In verses 5 and 6 David says he is satisfied by meditating on who God is, while he lay down at night. Satisfied, as with the choicest of food. How marvelous! How can one be in that state of mind apart from the grace of God?
Look at verse 8, “My soul clings to you”. What a desperate yet wonderful cry in times of trouble. David needed to be brought to a place of despondency to cry out in such a manner.
The entire Psalm is filled with the help we need when faced with desperate times. So will you pray with me like David did and “sing with joy in the shadow of his wings”?
We sit under the shadow of the wings of Jesus Christ, who redeemed us and gave us new life, therefore we have hope.
I hope this letter aids you in your walk with Christ. To hear you say that you’re standing firm in the Lord is more than I can ask for. Trusting that God will carry you through. He is faithful.
Yours lovingly
Ben
This is Part 2 of a fictional series of letters. You can read Part 3 here. In case you missed Part 1, you can read it here.
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Quiricus 
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