Job 6:8-10 “Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut off my life! Then I would still have this consolation—my joy in unrelenting pain—that I had not denied the words of the Holy One."
John 16:21 "A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world."
Okay, so I couldn't decide which to use, so the I heard a still, small voice say, "Use both of them". Fine by me, Lord ;) You know God must have the most hilarious sense of humor around to up with me...
Yesterday I discussed joy in the midst of grief and mourning. Today, I want to talk about the transition from grief to joy. Well, it's really a transition - the joy is already there. It's still there, just covered over legitimately by sadness of loss.
Contrary to popular belief, TIME does NOT heal all wounds - only God can do that - sometimes He even uses other people. BUT it does take time to grieve a loss. It's not something a person can rush through. Telling a person who is in grief to 'get over already' or 'haven't you been here long enough' is NOT helpful. In Biblical times they took up to a month maybe longer to grieve - and that's all they did. They didn't go to work and have to run around like we do in our fast-paced society. They dealt with the grief, until they could move into a healthy acceptance of the loss. This definitely does not come overnight, and it hurts like nothing ever hurt before. A person needs comfort, understanding, and sometimes space or just someone to be there with encouraging words that speaks LIFE and HOPE into the situation.
The stages of grief (denial - not the river, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) may pass again and again in no particular order. Sorry Type A personalities - don't worry, I'm one also ;) That joy that is inside of us is slowly uncovered - what I'm picturing is a bright yellow light under 12 inches of dirt and as we go through those stages - sometimes skipping some - we are brushing off the dirt and joy appears once again.
It doesn't go away, there's just a time for everything and joy let's us mourn. Our hope returns and we feel the Presence of the Lord binding up our broken hearts, and as we look into His eyes - we see love eternal.
I think that's why Job could say, even in His unrelenting pain, that he still had joy.
I think that's why a woman giving birth can have joy because she knows she's bringing forth life.
Or for matter anyone who is preparing for something the Lord has for them to do, male or female can go through trials, temptations, pain, etc and still have joy because we know that the Lord is with us and everything He does is for our good.
So, joy returns through the mourning.
May the joy of the Lord be upon you today.
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