Unrelinquished Grief or Hope Dwelling? You Decide.

Are there times in life you just feel cheated? Have you felt like a sweet or thrilling (or both!) experience has been stolen right from under your nose? These things may be related to family, to work, or to any other significant life marker. Have you experienced that instead of moving from “glory to glory” as a believer, you are instead moving from loss to loss?

Such was the experience of Naomi in the book of Ruth. She moved to a foreign land and for 10 years made a home, only to lose not only all of her hard work, but, more importantly, her husband, and then even her two sons. Now, having nothing, she decides to return to her hometown. Upon her return, she is greeted by her people. However, she had suffered so much loss that she began telling her people to no longer call her Naomi, meaning pleasant, but to call her Mara, meaning bitter, because, “the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” (Ruth 1:20-21)

My soul has felt the same swelling toward bitterness, the companion of unrelinquished grief. It swells from the pain of loss, and therein the pain of “less.” Less than hoped for. Less than expected. Less than intended. From the beginning God’s intentions were for perfect relationships and communion. His intentions were for so much MORE than what any of creation is currently experiencing. The disparity between what God prepared and what has yet been received is continually of pain to even God Himself. But experience the power of that small word… yet. We are not currently experiencing all that God has prepared since the foundations of the earth. Is it possible that my experience of this grief mirrors the heart of God Himself as He witnesses His creation experiencing all of the various forms of less since our exit from the Garden itself?

John 16:33

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Psalm 84:2

My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God

1 Corinthians 13:10-12

but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And yet (don’t you just love that word?), while pain is present, we are never without hope. Instead of dwelling in the pain and moving toward Mara, I am challenged to dwell in Hope. There is universal loss at hand because there is universal less at hand. But we can take heart, God has overcome the world! Live in hope of the glorious day that is coming when all that God intended to be will be revitalized, restored, and fully revealed. Realize that the longing in your heart, the grief, the pain, is really a calling to wait with expectant hope. Our Deliverer is coming again. Fully receive the longing of your heart as a longing for God and all that He will rightly bring. Righteousness and justice will meet again. Believe and be filled with hope today. Be filled with more of Him.

Psalm 16:9

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest (dwell) in hope.

1 Peter 1:3, 8-9

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,… Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

PSALM 85:10

Love and faithfulness meet together;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Realize that you can fully trust God, and His plans, His heart and intentions toward you because He fully knows you. He created you. As a result, He knows best what is best. There is coming a day when you will fully understand, but your calling for now is not to reason or understand, it is to DWELL IN HOPE. To more fully dwell in God Himself.

We must keep moving. As believers, grief should only be a place we visit, not a place we stay. If we linger too long, grief turns into bitterness, and bitterness, when it is fully rooted, becomes despair. At this point in life I feel like my frequent flyer miles from visiting the land of grief should be redeemable for some sort of reward. But, wait... as we righteously persevere we will receive the eternal reward.

Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.

Dr. Robert Stackpole compiled the following scriptures:

“Jesus taught us:

Blessed are you when men revile you, and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. ... Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. ... Not every one who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ... For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done (Mt 5:11, 6:19, 7:21, 16:27; cf. Mt 25: 31-46, Lk 12: 8-9)

And Paul wrote in his letters:

For He will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. ... Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart. ... For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is if any avail, but faith working through love.... I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing (Rom 2:6-7; Gal 6:7-9, 5:6; II Tim 4:7-8).” (accessed here: http://www.thedivinemercy.org/news/If-We-Serve-God-For-a-Heavenly-Reward-Is-That-Selfish-3062)

Live in confident hope. Your reward is being processed and you will fully receive it in the fullness of time.

ROMANS 12:12-14

Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

Today's Gifts. Tomorrow's Losses.

Week by week, day by day, hour by hour I find myself both caught up in the good things that are happening or dragged down by the hard realities. My pendulum swings, and I know yours does, too. So, since God is all powerful, why can’t He just make it all good, all the time? Why can’t He just pour out one good thing after another upon me?

I suppose He absolutely could, accept, in His goodness, God knows that by providing only what I need for today, He is facilitating the development of an intimate awareness of either my lack of certain things that ultimately are capable of leading me on a quest that ends in discovering Him, or, as I learn to take the more direct route of turning immediately to Him as the source of my supply, His presence and His provision. Just as the best of personal trainers tracks your increasing stamina, resilience, and tolerances so as to facilitate the best physical developments, so God perfectly manages the human stressors upon us for the purpose of further spiritually refining us for our own protection, increasing our resilience, and then also for the furtherance of His kingdom. And besides, the gifts are never to be our focus. Misplaced focus has led me to many a heartbreak. In contrast, I experience the greatest fulfillment in the times when I am able to appropriately affix the gaze of my heart. And so we are told in Matthew 16:33-34, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

And here is the interesting reality. In doing this spiritual strength training, God is actually pouring out

"Glory to Glory"

on me one good thing after another. He is allowing me to be made stronger, more connected to Him and more capable of resisting the enemy of my soul. He is facilitating a life of victory full of joy even now, here, this side of heaven. A piece of heaven on earth. ”Whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:16-18)

When the Israelites were finally able to leave their captivity in Egypt, God didn’t load them up with enough food to make the journey as many of us might have done while playing “The Oregon Trail” while hoping we wouldn’t die from dysentery (again). Nope, they were instead sent out and challenged to only take what they needed for each day. “Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.” (Exodus 16:4) And this practice of daily making us aware of our need wasn’t just for the Old Testament folks. Nope. We find again in the Beatitudes themselves a recognition of the nature of our dependence, “Give us today our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11)

This understanding that today’s gifts are for today and are not guaranteed to be here tomorrow is capable of helping me to prioritize my life with the utmost care and diligence. What must I make time for today because it is absolutely not guaranteed to be here tomorrow? What in my life would I angrily grieve over tomorrow if it was taken from me tonight? These are the things that will clearly indicate what is worthy of having preeminence in my life, what will be best for me to ensure is completed for my ongoing peace of mind and ultimate satisfaction in life.

Next, can I have faith to believe in light of the gifts I am learning to acknowledge in today, that He already has gifts waiting for me in each of my tomorrows? I can rest in the enjoyment of today, the contentment with what I am currently surrounded because I can trust that while there may be different circumstances tomorrow, He will be just as present and just as perfectly providing for needs I can’t even see.

The effects of the motion of the pendulum of life, whether soothing or sickening, have everything to do with to what you have chosen to anchor your life. Or rather, I would proffer, to Whom you have chosen to anchor your life. The maker of Heaven and Earth when He became clothed in flesh proved He was capable not only of creating the seas, but also of calming them.

Matthew 8:23-27

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

He displayed for us to see with earthly eyes and record as remembrances this effect not only because it might prove helpful to have documented witnessed firsthand accounts of His power over the physical world, but because He emphatically stated that we will have trouble and He knew the reassurance would be good for our hearts. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Are you anchored fully to Him today? Or are other things slipping in, vying for your attention and competing for your confidences? On Christ the solid rock you stand? Or have you even inadvertently settled for that sinking sand?

Forgive me, Lord, for my distractions that truly lead me to become sickened by things in this world. Strengthen me, sweet Holy Spirit, to fix my eyes with confident hope upon the Master and to be filled with peace even during the most unsettling of circumstances. For, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalm 20:7)