Main Idea: Our faith allows us to grieve deeply without succumbing to hopelessness and encourages us to comfort those who do.
Head Change: To know that grief and faith are not mutually exclusive.
Heart Change: To feel free to grieve deeply and to extend compassion to the depressed and grieving.
Life Change: To allow yourself to grieve heartache and to mourn with the grieving.
Who are your longstanding friends—those who have seen you grow and change for many years? What do you enjoy about sharing your life with them?
Longtime relationships can be rare, but those few people we’ve either grown up with or known for years offer us a unique intimacy. If they’ve stuck around a long time, chances are they know us well and have chosen to tolerate our faults in favor of loyal friendship. They’ve shared in our joys, and they’ve gathered around us in our sorrows. We need them when times get tough.
In today’s session, Francis will address the anguish that Job shares with his three friends. They have sat with him for a week, and now Job is able to talk. He needs their listening ears.
In closing…
What do we do when we feel stuck in our pain? Job voiced his true feelings, dark as they were. But God did not condemn his dark thoughts, his sorrow, or his questions. Instead, in Christ, we see God enter into our brokenness, experiencing and grieving the loss of loved ones. He knows the emotional trauma of suffering and loss.
We may feel stuck in grief, but we do have someone to go to. God has not left us alone. The witness of past believers, friends surrounding us, and the truth of God’s goodness can carry us through the worst. He can handle our grief. Turn to him with your deepest wounds this week.
