Saturday January 29, 2022

The stage of mourning

Job said : Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked I will leave again. The Eternal gave, and the Eternal took away. Blessed be the name of the Eternal ! Job 1.21

Dramatic events have affected us or can affect us. This ancient story speaks of realities that can reach us and leave us tottering, overwhelmed, helpless... Job felt it and expressed it. He didn't bottle up his feelings, he didn't lie to himself or others. We have the right to say : "I'm sad, I don't understand." But there is one thing that Job forbade himself from doing : attributing something unjust to God (Job 1:22). If anything happens, God permitted it, that's right. But God is absolutely not at fault. No reproach can be addressed to him. His kindness, his love never wavered. His fidelity, his compassion remain perfect. His consolation, his help are ready to pour into open hearts...

There are events in the face of which nothing can be done. But one is always responsible for the attitude of one's heart. On the day of happiness, rejoice ; in the day of calamity, reflect, says the Bible (Ecclesiastes 7:14). This advice makes it possible to understand that misfortune is not a dead end, on the contrary. Grieving is neither forgetting nor betraying. This is the stage during which we place before the Lord burdens that we can no longer carry alone, in order to move forward with him.

Charles Nicholas

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Proposed reading : Book of Job, chapter 1.

Source (Live Today)