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This week another suicide took place in our town by a 16-year-old boy. A little over 4 weeks ago, a college student was in route to a campaign drive, and he lost his life in a fatal car accident. About two weeks ago, we lost a pastor who was in his 50s to the coronavirus. The list goes on and on.
You and I are among the thousands who are grieving over many things, and maybe you are asking yourself, “Lord, why?” But somehow you still wake up to the “how” will I get through this?
Grief often asks the questions “Why?” and “How?”
I was studying Scripture the other day, and I ran past a Scripture where God grieved, and the Holy Spirit can be grieved.
In Genesis 6, we see where God grieved.
In Ephesians 4, we see where the Holy Spirit can be grieved.
How can God grieve when He already knows the “why”?
I was curious about what “grieve” meant in Hebrew. Grieve is āṣab̠, and it means to hit a painful spot, causing a piercing sense of anguish; a place of wearisome pain; troubled within by something which takes a deep toll.
Can God grieve like that? Can He feel the deep, inner, piercing pain? Can the Holy Spirit feel it too? The answer is yes!
Did you know that Jesus bore all our grief, pain, inner pain, the piercing pain on the cross? Then as He was dying, He asked the last question: Jesus asked, “Why?”
In Matthew 27:46, Jesus asks of God, “why have You forsaken me?”
Jesus did more than feel it; He became it. He became grief! All the while, God had a magnificent plan. This was a plan that had been written, yet no one saw it coming! A plan that didn’t make sense but fulfilled all the prophecies. As He died, He asked the same question we ask, “Why?”
Then it happened! The “why” was answered when Jesus went to the depths of hell and loosened every chain, broke every curse and took the keys to death and hell! He breathed resurrection power upon the body of Jesus, and He rose from the grave! Now, that same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of us! We have resurrection power!
Maybe you are asking the same question right now, “Lord, why did this happen? Why am I going through this? Why do I have to hurt so bad? God, why did you allow this? How will I get through this?”
When God already knew the “why”, Jesus stepped down and became the “how,” not knowing the “why.” He knew the “how” before the “why.”
So, I said all that to say this: Sometimes you have to give the “why” to God and let Jesus be your “how.”
If you have cried, know this: Jesus is catching your tears.
If you are grieving, know this: God grieved; the Holy Spirit can grieve, and Jesus is well acquainted with grief. Grief is a sign of deep love.
You will get through this with Jesus! He is your “how.”
This is “good grief!”
The Word says in 1 Thessalonians 4 that we grieve with hope.
Hope has a name: Jesus. The Word says that we are to comfort one another with these words.
For more on this Spirit-filled topic, listen to One Voice on the Charisma Podcast Network. {eoa}
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