It’s OK to Feel . . .
We finished last time with the question, “How do we deal with grief, pain and sadness?”
The first response is, “It is OK to feel grief, pain and sadness.”
Remember our yardstick for understanding? The Word of God. The Bible is filled with stories of people who experience tragedy, grief, misery and deep sadness.
Almost half of the Psalms focus on lament. For example,
“How long . . . must I have sorrow in my heart all the day?” Psalm 13.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me… I cry by day but you do not answer, and by night but I find no rest…” Psalm 22.
Our lives are a mixture of knowing joy in the presence of God and deep anguish of the soul. Paul experiences the heights of joy in Romans 8 – boldly proclaiming the great love of God in Christ, and then . . . almost immediately we see in Romans 9 “. . . I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart . . . ”
C S Lewis, after the death of his wife, Joy, said, “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear . . .” Fear and grief may be frequent visitors during our earthly life. The Psalmist again shares this: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You”. Psalm 56:3. Note he does not say IF I am afraid, but WHEN I am afraid. It will happen; the twin experiences of grief and fear will affect us.