Hearing God through Grief
“Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears…” So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did as I had been commanded. (Ezekiel 24:16-18)
Can anything good come out of grief? There has been a high concentration of grief in the recent past as many lost loved ones due to a prevailing pandemic, accidents, and even other common causes. Losing any loved one is a painful heartbreak that results in a serious wound on the heart; it becomes even more unimaginable when one has lost both parents in one day or losing many family members at once – as it has happened to some. Today’s Scripture is an account of the prophet who lost his closest loved one – the wife – and was told not to weep or shed any tear! These are tough losses, and in this reflection I explore whether anything good can come out of such tough times. It is possible to hear the voice of God through grief – in the silence of the shocking moment beyond words; God speaks even then.
What do you make of the loss? In the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the LORD! During the days of mourning Lazarus – buried four days ago – Jesus turned up and made the powerful fifth “I am” statement: “I am the resurrection and the life.” The death of Jesus Christ ushered in the victorious resurrection and later the coming of the Holy Spirit. Painful as it may be, something good has come out of some serious losses. For American political journalist, professor and world peace advocate Norman Cousins, “Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live.” That sounds to have been the vein in which Martin Luther King Jr said, “If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.” In all these circumstances, the pain of death is not denied, but the lessons and gains through some losses is amplified much more.
For Ezekiel, the loss of his wife was truly the taking away of the delight of his eyes; the excruciating pain of such a loss was to depict how determined God was to inflict such pain upon his Jewish people by letting the Temple in Jerusalem be destroyed, as a punishment for their unfaithfulness – and it was. In this grim bereavement, Ezekiel was to hear God’s Word and proclaim it to the Jews. It is a message of repentance, restoration and returning to the Lord. In different grief circumstances, God calls upon us to listen and hear a special message He has for us – and His Word can revive and be a source of healing. Indeed, something good can come out of grief.
God bless you all!