Grief
Grief is a very powerful emotion. It is not just a single feeling, but it is range of emotions that lead us through a process of working through what has happened to us. Grief comes when we lose a loved one, or when we lose a job or anything valuable to us. It can be overwhelming, and those who try to comfort those in grief find that all they can do sometimes is sit in silence with them.(Job 2:13)
Job's three friends came to try to comfort him, but they were not very successful. I believe they failed because they did not understand what was happening to Job in the spiritual realm, and they did not understand grief. Grief has stages and Job was going through the grief process with all of its stages. That happens to any person, no matter how much faith they have. When we know the Lord, He is there to walk with us through the process, and that lightens our load, but it does not remove it.
In chapter two when Job loses his health, and his wife is not supportive of his faith on top of all of the loses he already experienced, Job goes into deep depression. That is one of the stages of grief. He curses the day he was born, because he feels so badly. He sees no hope for his life, since he lost everything except his life. Therefore, he can't see how he can go on. I am sure we have all felt this way at times. However, if we cry out to God, He begins to restore our joy and our hope. In chapter three Job is full of questions about his losses and his situation. That is a stage in the grief process, too. We think of every question to ask God, and to wonder how we could have done differently. In Job's case and sometimes in our lives, we have not done anything to bring on our loss. We still ask the questions and look for answers which may or may not come, because we are not God. Eventually, He shows us enough to get us through, if we continue to trust Him.
Grief is hard, but it is good, too. It brings us through the process to the place where we can see God's goodness. We learn from our loss, and we know we can go on with God's help. It even leads us to trust God more, which is very good. I pray for each of us to realize the grief we have, and that we would allow God to help us through even if we do not have any friends who can help us very much.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Job 5-7.
Job's three friends came to try to comfort him, but they were not very successful. I believe they failed because they did not understand what was happening to Job in the spiritual realm, and they did not understand grief. Grief has stages and Job was going through the grief process with all of its stages. That happens to any person, no matter how much faith they have. When we know the Lord, He is there to walk with us through the process, and that lightens our load, but it does not remove it.
In chapter two when Job loses his health, and his wife is not supportive of his faith on top of all of the loses he already experienced, Job goes into deep depression. That is one of the stages of grief. He curses the day he was born, because he feels so badly. He sees no hope for his life, since he lost everything except his life. Therefore, he can't see how he can go on. I am sure we have all felt this way at times. However, if we cry out to God, He begins to restore our joy and our hope. In chapter three Job is full of questions about his losses and his situation. That is a stage in the grief process, too. We think of every question to ask God, and to wonder how we could have done differently. In Job's case and sometimes in our lives, we have not done anything to bring on our loss. We still ask the questions and look for answers which may or may not come, because we are not God. Eventually, He shows us enough to get us through, if we continue to trust Him.
Grief is hard, but it is good, too. It brings us through the process to the place where we can see God's goodness. We learn from our loss, and we know we can go on with God's help. It even leads us to trust God more, which is very good. I pray for each of us to realize the grief we have, and that we would allow God to help us through even if we do not have any friends who can help us very much.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Job 5-7.