KykNET Lent Guide 2023Sample

Week 3: Grieve

Day 6: Mourn with Hope

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matt 5:4 NIV

Paul says that we should mourn with hope. There are ways of mourning that aren’t very helpful and don’t necessarily promote healing. When mourning takes on the form of exhibitionism, self-pity, and excess of self, it usually isn’t fruitful. One of these unhelpful methods of mourning is mourning without hope.

When you’ve experienced a loss and your life is tossed into disorientation, it is very important to hold on deeply to hope. It is important to realise that it is not the end. It does not mean that you’ll never have a good life again. It is actually a way for God to take you to something new.

In the book of Revelation, John writes that the bad times in which we find ourselves are not the end, and he shows us what will happen in the end. In other words, he says: ‘Let me tell you what happens in the last chapter of history. We are not living in the final chapter now. It may be dark, but know, everything will eventually turn out well.’

In the words of Juliana of Norwich: ”All shall be well, all manner of things shall be well, all shall be well.”

We meet our losses with the knowledge that there is a God. He is good. He is with us and gives us strength. I go in knowing that after death, there is resurrection. Just as He was delivered and lost His freedom, health, reputation, and life, it did not mean His end. It is also the pattern in which He works with us. We can also know that our new life will be better than our old one. It does not always appear that way, but with time, we will see it.

Exercise:

Share the discouragement in your loss with Him and ask Him for the trust necessary in the way He is working in you.

Repetition Prayer:

Lord, I ask for the grace of tears, to mourn my losses.