The grief and sorrow that comes from loss – no matter how dark it feels – is only temporary. Jesus has uprooted the terror of grief and replaced it with resurrection and hope. And once you have the hope of Jesus, you can carry the sorrow without drowning. Hang on to hope!
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I can understand why deeply-grieving people sometimes might want to end it all.
And hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and frankly, I have been tempted to do the same. Sometimes the pain of grief outweighs whatever “eternal benefits” might result from all the sorrow. ’Cause you feel numb. You stay in bed. You cannot face the day. And you start toying with the idea that life with all its sorrows is just, just too much. But wait. Ending your life – no matter how sad it feels – ending it all is a permanent solution to a very temporary problem. That’s right; it’s temporary. Your sorrow, as dark as it feels, is transient. My quadriplegia is temporary. Life with all its unthinkable heart aches and disappointments – a life of pain is temporary. There is a glorious end over the horizon, and that should inspire hope. Always – and I have learned this over time – always the Bible is telling us to view life as brief and transitory. It says so in 2 Corinthians 4: “What is seen is only temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Oh friend, there you have it. Hope. The pain is gonna end.
And once you have that hope, you can carry the sadness with you without it drowning you. It’s like that line from the movie: “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies; so get busy living or get busy dying.” Friend, hope is what moves you forward through the fog. You can go on. Grief is like living with a life-altering disability. Sure, you’ll wake up in the morning and it will still be there. The sadness will be there. But remember, you’ve got the God of all hope pulling for you, and he can help you make peace with grief. And let me explain what I mean by that – making peace with grief. Because God will give you courage to deliberately look sorrow in the face. And you study its stern features; you memorize its dark countenance. You say, “Grief, I know you. I’ve experienced you before. And I’m going to enter into you today, unafraid. I’m going to walk into your horror just like those three Hebrews walked into Nebuchadnezzar’s blazing hot furnace. And I’m going to breathe deeply inside of the pain. For although I am pressed in on all sides, I am not crushed. The Bible tells me so. So grief, I quietly tell you now that you will not overwhelm me. For Christ has visited you; he has been here before me; and he came out of you, grief, and he transformed you; Christ uprooted your terror and has left it a place of resurrection and hope. Yep, just like those three Hebrews in that furnace of death, I am expecting to find Christ; I’m expecting to find you, Lord Jesus, in this furnace of sorrow. Yes, you are here with me in this grief, and I will trust you, and I will not let you go.”
I’ve been talking to myself like that for year. And I have pictured myself in that furnace with those Hebrews. And I have found the fourth man, the one like the son of God, walking in the midst of my sorrow with me. Oh friend, I do not want you to get stuck in the middle of your loss and grief. So visit me today at joniradio.org because I’ve got a very special gift for you. It’s a book by my friend Vicki Zoradi who suffered great loss and grief when they amputated her legs and her hands. Be encouraged by her amazing story. So as I sign off, again, go to joniradio.org, and ask for Vicki’s wonderful book. It’s a great resource for anyone who struggling with loss. And hey, if you know someone who feels overwhelmed by sorrow, then share this program with them today. You can do that at joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends