You can be in a place of deep sorrow and still be a person filled with faith.
Job is such a great example of someone who doesn’t minimize his grief. I don’t know many people who look at everything Job lost and think, hey, at least you didn’t lose your life. Yet we do this to ourselves.
But Job doesn’t hold back his grief. He and so many of the psalmists are honest with God about the deep pain and sorrow they experienced. Job could have feigned a posture of thankfulness for the things he continued to have. He could have woken up each morning and made a list of everything he still had, like breath in his lungs.
Yet, we read such different conversations in the bible between people in grief and God. I don’t assume these people lacked faith.
Therefore I will not keep silent;
I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit,
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
(Job 7:11)
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
(Psalm 13:1-2)
Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never show his favor again?
Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
Has his promise failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has he in anger withheld his compassion?
(Psalm 77:7-8)
Your faith doesn’t always demand for you to remember all the good God has done in your life in every moment, so that you will minimize the pain and sorrow you’re currently enduring.
The bible shows us that there’s a place for every kind of emotion to be felt and expressed. This doesn’t mean we are to stay there forever. But it also doesn’t mean painful and ugly emotions are off limits.
You can grieve with every manner of sorrow and pain. It doesn’t call your faith into question. Your faith is not less because you allow yourself to grieve.
Grief And Hope Can Exist Together
We are complex beings, a true testament to our Creator. It’s possible for you to be in a very deep state of grief as you miss the days that were, but also eagerly await the days ahead.
Grief and hope can coexist.
