… but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; (Lam. 3:32 ESV)
Good Grief
Charlie Brown often said it.
We say it as a socially acceptable curse.
And maybe, accidentally, we are profoundly correct.
Grief is never good. We grieve when we notice loss. We grieve when we are sympathetic to pain. We grieve when news is more tearful than giggly.
But Jesus is bigger than my grief.
That doesn’t mean that Jesus WILL turn your sorrow to smiles today. I don’t claim that the very thing that causes such anguish at two in the morning will cause joyful excitement at seven. Jesus, as bigger than my grief, does not magically make the grief go away…
But it does mean two things.
First, Jesus knows your grief. He experienced it in His thirty-three years of lowly life. He lost loved ones. He had to put aside dreams. He was rejected, and lonely, and fearful. And His knowledge comforts me. It helps to be understood. It is better to be known.
And second, Jesus did something about your grief. He died for it. He experienced, as God, the ultimate grief to fix our grief. The resulting peace is long in coming, at times. It is most definitely an ‘already, but not yet’ sort of thing. But the cure has been added to the bloodstream. The happy ending to the tragedy is right… over… there. And at times, when I think on it, I can sense it. And smile a little.
Not because the grief is gone yet. But because it will be.
And the sugar in the bitter tea needs to be stirred. And the dawn’s light needs time to become noon. And the end of grief has been paid for. It’s coming. Sometimes He lets me taste it now.
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This Week
Wednesday 6:00 pm The Joy of Eating, and Laughing, and Learning at
Jubiwednesday. Let me cook for you.
Sunday 10:00 am He inclines His ear to us when we cry out to Him. Pray with us.
11:00 am Worship! Because He is so very very wow!
May 4 7:00 pm Movie Night! And popcorn night!
9 June: The First Fund Raising Garage Sale! Save up stuff you want to sell and/or get rid of! We will be open on Friday and Saturday. Can you help host?