Grief

[snowyangel]

When joy seems distant...

The death of a dearly loved friend, family member, or spouse. The loss of something important to our lives--a marriage, a career, our youth or health--all of these things can trigger the outpouring of emotion and pain that we call grief.

If you're in the process of grieving, you know that it isn't a simple experience--it's a tumultuous time of conflicting emotions: numbness, anger, disbelief, helplessness and countless others. Pyschologists tell us that grief is a universal experience that can be traced through several distinct phases: protest, disorganization, and reorganization, according to one such model of the grieving process.

But knowing that the experience is scientifically identifiable doesn't do much to help us through the dark times when a terrible loss leaves us feeling as though a piece of our very soul has been ripped away.

Does it sound strange to imagine God grieving? In the Bible, we read of several instances in which God was moved to grief by people or events on Earth. In Genesis, God grieves at the loss of a close relationship with humans (Genesis 6:6). God can be moved to grief when we turn away from his will for our lives (Ephesians 4:30). What is the grief of God like? Is it a process like our own, filled with feelings of sadness and loss?

We don't know. But the choice of words in these Bible passages seems to tell us that, in our loss, we have a Friend who has been where we stand--who knows exactly what it's like to feel that loss, pain, and disappointment. He shares our tears and our sadness, and He is there as we struggle to emerge whole again from this experience of brokenness. And He promises us that our grief and pain won't last forever:

"I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy."

To someone coping with a recent loss, that joy might seem awfully distant. But with God as our companion and counselor, we will survive the journey.