Walking Through Grief Like Jesus

 

We are bombarded by a myriad of emotions when going through struggles and there is the temptation to give it a stiff upper lip, because the “sad” ones make us feel weak. However, they are very real:

• Anger
• Frustration
• Sadness
• Disappointment
• Sorrow
• _______________ (You fill in the blank)

Another reason we don’t like these emotions is they make us feel out of control.

We like control. We want to know that everything is right in our world.

To make matters worse, Satan likes to jump on the band wagon and whisper the lie that if we really trusted God we wouldn’t struggle with these emotions. You know the problem with this lie? We believe him! It seems to be truth.

What, then, is truth? Peter admonished us to follow in Jesus’ steps. (I Pet. 2:21) How should we follow His steps with our emotions?

He wasn’t afraid to walk through it, whether it was joy or sorrow. This is what I really love about Jesus. He experienced everything about being human and showed us that we can experience the whole spectrum of emotions and still be okay.

When Jesus went to his friend’s (Lazarus’) tomb, He didn’t give reasons to those around him why they shouldn’t be sad. Why they shouldn’t be crying.

He offered no platitudes. Just sorrow.

Jesus loved Lazarus. He wept. To weep means “to express deep sorrow for, usually by shedding tears.” [1] We could discuss why he wept, whether it was because Lazarus was coming back to earth or whether it was because he was truly sad that he died. But, truthfully, it doesn’t matter.

Jesus was experiencing deep sorrow and he wasn’t afraid to let it show. He didn’t stuff it away, pretending that he was “okay.”

What is your sorrow today? Your pain? Let it out, even in torrents. You’re in good company.

1. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weep