A Prayer to Grieve with Others
By Ashley Moore
“What’s man, that you just make a lot of him, and that you just set your coronary heart on him, go to him each morning and check him each second? How lengthy will you not look away from me, nor depart me alone until I swallow my spit? If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you ever made me your mark? Why have I turn out to be a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie within the earth; you’ll search me, however I shall not be.” – Job 7:17-21, ESV
They’re saying there isn’t a heartbeat. I couldn’t make my thoughts comprehend what my husband was saying. Our associates checked into labor and supply that morning. We obtained a textual content from their mother saying immediately was the day. How might this be?
Many people don’t love the E-book of Job. Job skilled a lot tragedy. It’s terrifying to consider how God allowed Devil to terrorize this man. So as to add insult to harm, Job’s associates try and consolation him however make issues worse. However the straw that breaks the camel’s again, God is seemingly silent your complete time Job’s drama unfolds. I need us to camp out immediately in the course of Job’s grief and lament. I don’t need us to do what Job’s associates did and miss the significance of this half. Let’s look at our propensity to shrink back from the laborious stuff and our lack of ability to tolerate the grief of others, lets?
Have you ever ever felt inclined to rapidly defend God’s character when a buddy shares dangerous information by saying one thing like, “God will work this out for good.”? Or perhaps you decrease your personal ache since you assume it’s making others uncomfortable by saying, “We’re going to be okay!”. Maybe you resonate with Job’s associates who forged judgment while you witness somebody experiencing hardship. Do you ask your self, “ I ponder what they did to trigger that?”
I do know I’ve thought and performed each single one among these items. And whereas we imply effectively, generally these statements and ideas are unhelpful and pointless at greatest. Re-read Job’s phrases. This time, take heed to the excruciating ache he’s experiencing:
What’s man, that you just make a lot of him, and that you just set your coronary heart on him, go to him each morning and check him each second? How lengthy will you not look away from me, nor depart me alone until I swallow my spit? If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you ever made me your mark? Why have I turn out to be a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie within the earth; you’ll search me, however I shall not be. – Job 7:17-21, ESV
Once we witness ache, each our personal or the ache of others, as an alternative of attempting to gloss over grief, let’s observe grieving with them. We don’t must defend God’s character or consolation with ill-timed Bible band-aids. As a substitute, let’s be tender to them and delicate to the Holy Spirit. As we stroll by life and expertise trials and hardships, each our personal and people of others, could we rely on the Holy Spirit and weep with those that weep.
Let’s pray:
Pricey Lord,
Thanks that you’re not distant after we undergo, even when it feels that manner. Thanks for moving into our struggling and strolling with us by the valley of the shadow of demise (Psalm 23:4). Lord, please forgive us after we stumble by feeble makes an attempt to consolation others who’re hurting. God, give us your phrases to say and knowledge on what to do for our heartbroken associates. Break our hearts for what breaks yours and train us to not grieve your Spirit however to grieve with others. Amen.
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