April 19
1 Samuel 30:1-31; 1 Chronicles 12:20-22; 1 Samuel 31: 1-13; 1 Chronicles 10:1-14, 9:40-44; 2 Samuel 4:4, 1:1-27
The book of 2 Samuel begins with a lament. Lamenting was a common practice in ancient near eastern culture but is foreign to us. We think of grief as something to be hidden, ignored, or rushed through. We value the appearance of happiness above everything; thus, we are not good at dealing with sorrow or difficult circumstances. As we read 2 Samuel 1 and work our way through the psalms, we will encounter several laments. They may make us feel uncomfortable, and we may wonder why they are even in the Bible, but they can be extremely helpful.
We see that lament is a godly, righteous, and necessary practice. The New Testament tells us we are to grieve, but we are to do it as those with hope. We need to acknowledge and deal with the broken world in which we live. At times that will mean mourning, weeping, and being broken hearted, but behind the grief, there is hope in a God who will come to make all things right.
Father God, I mourn over my broken heart and this broken world. I confess that I am far from the person you want me to be, and I confess that our city, country, and world is far from what you desire. May I find the freedom to weep over the sin, deceit, and evil in the world, and as I do, thank you for the hope I have in Jesus. Amen.
Why as a culture are we afraid of grief?
The book of 2 Samuel begins with a lament. Lamenting was a common practice in ancient near eastern culture but is foreign to us. We think of grief as something to be hidden, ignored, or rushed through. We value the appearance of happiness above everything; thus, we are not good at dealing with sorrow or difficult circumstances. As we read 2 Samuel 1 and work our way through the psalms, we will encounter several laments. They may make us feel uncomfortable, and we may wonder why they are even in the Bible, but they can be extremely helpful.
We see that lament is a godly, righteous, and necessary practice. The New Testament tells us we are to grieve, but we are to do it as those with hope. We need to acknowledge and deal with the broken world in which we live. At times that will mean mourning, weeping, and being broken hearted, but behind the grief, there is hope in a God who will come to make all things right.
Father God, I mourn over my broken heart and this broken world. I confess that I am far from the person you want me to be, and I confess that our city, country, and world is far from what you desire. May I find the freedom to weep over the sin, deceit, and evil in the world, and as I do, thank you for the hope I have in Jesus. Amen.
Why as a culture are we afraid of grief?
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1 Comment
While considering Derick’s question i remembered something I wrote on a family note board that has been hanging in our garage for many many years now.
nWork= success
nI wrote this before I was saved and I just realized how meaningless a statement it is.
nWe don’t earn our redemption through works, redemption has been given to us by the Father through our acceptance.
nI believe culturally we place the highest value on success. Be it finance, fame or even elevated levels of education, we elevate and reward a winner.
nFor our modern society grief is an admission of loss and our fragility.
nBut as Christians we realize we can not “fake it until we make it”. We simply hand the wheel over to God and we our free from the concerns of being judged by a fallen world.
n