GRIEF: “Deep and poignant distress caused by or as if by bereavement; heartbreak, sorrow, woe”
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There is great evil in the world. There is great sorrow. From time to time, I am blindsided by the terrible ways people damage themselves – and each other. In grief, I am reduced to, “Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord!”, the only words I have. What can anyone do when there is so much going so wrong all the time?
Then I think: I can lift them – victims and perpetrators both – into God’s light, remembering Who is in control. Of everything, everywhere. And Who wants to be invited into our world of need.
Praying helps, yes. But the sorrow? I am not strong enough to carry so much grief. Ah, but: “the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Even better than the King James version is this:
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
We have turned, each one, to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wickedness of us all
[our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]
To fall on Him [instead of us]. Isaiah 53:6 Amplified Bible (AMP)
That is it exactly: people straying, wickedly going their own way, causing untold grief and sorrow.
But [in fact] He has borne our griefs,
And He has carried our sorrows and pains …
Isaiah 53: 4a Amplified Bible (AMP)
So, grief is not mine to bear. God has laid it on Jesus Who took it once for all. He can handle the bad – and my sad. He has already done it, past, present and future. Forever.
I think I still need to “feel” the grief – it informs my praying. But I am to “carry” it, in prayer, straight to the One who died for – and because of – it. He will exchange it for His peace, which is exactly what I need. Not from time to time, but always.
But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless. Psalm 10:14 NIV