Grief (Gen. 50:1; 10-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 02-18-2008

 

My Worship Time                                                                                          Focus:  Grief

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                               Reference:  Genesis 50:1,10-11

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him and kissed him.

            “10  When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and sorrowful lamentation; and he observed seven days mourning for his father.  11  Now when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians." Therefore it was named Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.”

 

            This is the sixth time the Scripture records Joseph weeping.  In the culture that Joseph came from weeping was more acceptable than what it is in the culture that I find myself living in.  Jesus cried on different occasions and so this make it okay to do so as far as I am concerned.  God gave tears to mankind and therefore I think that He expects us to use them in times like the one described in today’s text.  The Bible is a book of balance and when it comes to mourning the loss of a loved one tears should be shed, but after the time of morning they will end.  If a person does not weep over the death of a loved one then he is only fooling himself and will later on have difficulties in life, the same is true for the one who weeps too long, for he too will have difficulties in his life.

 

            These three verses describe the death and the burial of Jacob the beloved father of the twelve who would begin to make up the nation of Israel.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This theme is similar to the one that was studied in yesterday’s sermon and also in the small group study from yesterday.  That theme is expressing one’s feeling to the Lord when something happens to someone that is painful to them.  I expressed that I have trouble doing this whenever I pray to the Lord and I think that He really wants me to do this, but I must remember that, as with all things, to keep it in balance just as the text is teaching from today’s lesson.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to hear my hurts as I express them to Him.

 

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 1:9-11

 

9 ¶  And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,

10  so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;

11  having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.