Great Grief

Job teaches us it is possible to have great grief and maintain our integrity with the Lord. The first two chapters of Job spells out his fate. I believe the saying, “When it rains, it pours,” is very fitting for what happened to Job. He loss EVERYTHING that was meaningful to him except his wife and his life. Ironically, his wife encourages him to curse God. So, in retrospect, maybe he loss his wife too as she was no support to him. The Bible describes this at the end of chapter two, “Job suffered great grief.”

Job loves God. He does not understand what was going on and why all hell breaks loose in his life, but he still loved God. What an example for us. Job’s life was not put in the Bible by accident. It is purposely put there to encourage and inspire us, that no matter how hard it gets, no matter how bad it gets, no matter if all hell breaks loose in our lives, at the end of the day, WE STILL HAVE GOD! In essence that is all that we need. We sometimes forget that. We cherish our treasures, things, people, family and friends in our lives, but at the end of the day, they are all temporary. What is lasting is our relationship with our Heavenly Father. We all this building your hope on things that are eternal.

If you are living and breathing and happen to be reading this, you will have great grief in your life. It will be different for each of us. It may come in multiples like it did for Job, but you will have it. What will you do? Will you take Job’s wife advise to curse God and die? That death does not have to be a physical death. It can be a self-imposed separation from God by denouncing your faith or having a pity party of what has happened to you. Or, will you maintain your integrity before God?

This is not to say you do not hurt, you do not cry, you are not baffled. You experience the great grief that you are in, but your comeback is, “Lord, I trust you; Lord, I love you.” Grant it, Job did not say these exact words in the Bible, but it is implied. God knows Job’s heart; therefore, He allows Satan to wreak havoc in His life. The story of Job is an example of how we should handle our great griefs in life. Love & Blessings!