Have you ever been right at the heart of grief and had someone tell you that grief is wrong? That to struggle is to sin? I know I have! I know that I have even come across that way when talking to friends of my own who are grieving. There’s a fine line that can be hard to find when you are trying to offer hope to someone you love who is struggling with heartache.
2 Corinthians 4:7-9 says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…”
We are pretty much guaranteed that we, as Christians, will suffer in this life. If Christ Himself was persecuted, why should we expect to avoid that pain? Notice what Paul and his companions were: afflicted in every way, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. It sounds pretty bad to me! Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever experienced “getting hit from all sides”? That is part of life this side of heaven! Life is not easy… but notice what they were not: crushed, driven to despair, forsaken, and destroyed. Their experiences were full of pain and struggle and persecution. But it did not crush them. It did not drive them to despair. It did not destroy them. Why? Because God never forsook them! No matter the pain, no matter the trials, no matter the heartache, God was right there by their side. Sometimes Paul was persecuted by his enemies, and sometimes by fellow believers. God was still right there. And the simple fact that his God was by His side helped him to acknowledge the pain but not let it lead him to despair. Why? How? ”So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (v. 16-18).