Accepting loss as God’s will is one of the hardest things you will ever do. Death in particular is heart wrenching so why would God’s will be for someone to die? When loss happens the last thing anyone wants to hear is: “Well maybe it is just God’s will”. Loss creates feelings of sadness, despair, hopelessness, anger, and self-hate. When one is going through loss, acceptance of loss as God’s will is simply not an option.
Is loss really Gods’ will? The truth is the bible puts great emphasis and value of the acceptance of God’s will in the face of loss. To believers, death should be a triumphant transition from a life filled with hard work, endless challenges, sickness, pain and in many cases suffering, to eternal joy and peace. For those who are left behind however, triumphing is easier said than done. Let’s face it, our loved ones have been a part of us and when they leave a part of us goes with them. We are never the same. There is a gaping hole in our hurting hearts and a space now empty where our loved one once stood. We think of them the minute we open our eyes and they are the last thing we think of when we lay down our heads. The emotional pain is indescribable.
Loss of any kind can be emotionally difficult. We are told that as believers it should be viewed as a sign, God possibly preparing us for something better, God preventing us from major catastrophe or getting us back on the right path. This oversimplifies a complicated situation. Nevertheless, this is a major step in moving forward with our lives. Avoiding the loss, trying to suppress the pain simply does not work. We cannot go around it, we must go through it and it is hard work. Work that many of us just are neither willing, nor strong enough to undertake. We must seek the help of our heavenly father to carry us through. This is the only way.
Avoiding grief or the grieving process can be detrimental. It can affect our health, relationships, performance on the job and so much more. The bible speaks about so many in the bible who dealt with loss. Job, David, Jacob, Mary and Ruth are prime examples of individuals in the bible who experienced indescribable pain as they went through loss of various kinds. Over the next few posts we will explore various types of loss and how they can drastically impact our lives. There are different types of loss: death of a loved one by; suicide, illness or an accident; the end of a relationship, miscarriage, divorce, retirement, job loss and much more. Do each of these forms of loss always fall in line with God’s plan or will for the lives of those affected? Surrendering your will to God’s is hard enough, accepting whatever unfolds in your life, especially loss is even harder.
Hebrews 13:14 says that this world is not our home….heaven is our home (Para phrasing) but how I wish there was another way to get there.
Fully accepting that death is God’s will in my opinion is understood by the “mature Christian” where I am no where near being, although in the case of my brother’s death that line of thinking was the only thing that made sense. It was sudden and every human means that could have been used to prevent it was unavailable which normally would have been available prior and afterwards. At that horrific moment God’s will was not to be interrupted by human means. We as a family were heartbroken but God’s will was fulfilled for his purpose.
God never promised that we would not go through these painful experiences but he has promised to never to leave us or forsake us.