The grief and sorrow drive you more into God. It is just as when it gets colder outside, the temperature kicks the furnace higher though the thermostat. Similarly, the sorrow and the grief drive you into God and show you the resources you never had. Yes, feel the grief. There is a tendency for us to say, “I am afraid of the grief, I am afraid of the sorrow. I don’t want to feel that way. I want to rejoice in the Lord.” But look at Jesus. He was perfect, right? And yet he goes around crying all the time. He is always weeping, a man of sorrows. Do you know why? Because he is perfect. Because when you are not all absorbed in yourself, you can feel the sadness of the world. And therefore, what you actually have is that the joy of the Lord happens inside the sorrow. It doesn’t come after the sorrow. It doesn’t come after the uncontrollable weeping. The weeping drives you into the joy, it enhances the joy, and then the joy enables you to actually feel your grief without its sinking you. In other words, you are finally emotionally healthy.
Tim Keller in Walking with God through Pain and Suffering
Paul D. Montoya says
April 14, 2014 at 4:47 AMWhat my brother in Christ has shared,couldn’t be more true. I ordered his book on suffering, through Amazon. I am looking forward to reading it. Being a pain patient for sixteen years, and being a Christian for over twice that time, has definitely caused a great deal of grief through my suffering. Having three teenagers at the time of my accident, (which by the way, was no accident) is very humbling when you cannot do the things you felt were needed for your children. Then even more humbling, is your wife having to pray for a job. You feel as if a tornado just hit your home. Never mind the excruciating pain! Your family is suffering. You go into retreat mode mentally, and physically(not by choice) and you try to make sense as to why the LORD allowed this to happen??? Now I am in a position to whether I am going to do my own thing to help my family( which would more then likely turn out disastrous), or depend on the LORD by trusting Him as the scriptures declare.”Trust in the LORD with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding …”Proverbs, Ch. 3:5-7. Then Romans,8:28,”All things work together for good….” These were the things going through my mind. I was frustrated at the time. But GOD came through like the gentle, loving, comforting, faithful GOD that He is. He spoke to me and said through His Holy Word; “Have I not commanded thee; be strong and of good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed ; for the LORD thy GOD is with thee, withersoever thou goest.” Joshua 1:9. He ministered to me, telling me that He would not abandon my family or myself; because He is faithful Who has promised to be. It took about a year and a half to let Him have control of my emotions and my doubts. Never mind the pain. He was doing a deeper work in my heart that felt more like Ground Hog Day. I thought I was a mature Christian before all this happened. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The work of the Holy Spirit in my heart, my mind, and my life, that is continuing to this very day, is still going on and I pray it never stops. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything because I have a long road ahead of me. Much has happened in these sixteen years ; but I still have a lot of growing left to do. I am so looking forward to reading the book recommended. Thank you for writing on this subject. Blessings, paul montoya