Universally, grief is seen as something that we wouldn't want to experience, but it's something that no one can escape. We all have experienced a certain level of grief caused by loss whether a loved one, a business gone bad or a pet.
As painful and undesirable as grief may feel and seem, imagine what life would actually be without it. Imagine that you lose a family member and everyone is just staring at each other during the funeral not knowing what to feel and how to express thoughts on the value of that loved one.
All feelings are from God, yes even anger and grief. The problem sometimes is that as broken and hurt sinners, we don't know how to put it into its proper use. Having a right perspective of grief takes a long time to figure out and we might never even be able to fully understand it, but we can come as close as we possibly can so we understand that grief can actually be a blessing.
Grief teaches us to direct our trust to a more firm foundation
Psalm 73:26 says, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Left to feelings and emotions alone, we will forever feel hopeless and exhausted and that doesn't just go for grief.
Our trust can never be fully put in emotions because they can often easily mislead and deceive. We need our hope to be founded on the rock that is Jesus Christ so that we find hope and everlasting joy and peace even in the midst of devastating loss.
Grief teaches us to appreciate what has come and look forward to the future
The best companions of grief are gratitude and hope. We can be thankful for what God has allowed us to experience with people, things and ventures in the past and be hopeful and excited for the glory that is to come both in this life and in the next.
Just as Pauls says in Philippians 3:13-14: "Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
To forget the past doesn't mean to remove the past of all memory and value, but rather to forget the hopelessness and to strain now towards the hope and glory we now have because of what our Lord has done.
