Ralph Davis writes about the sorrows of life that God’s people experience in common with all people, reflecting on the reality that we are not spared from sorrow, nor does faith mean that our sorrow will be less in depth or duration of feeling.
…God’s covenant people are not sticks and stones, impervious to grief and sadness. We are not some sort of elite humanity that doesn’t face these ravages. You may say: Well, yes, but we face them with triumph and victory. Well, maybe; often that is the case. But sometimes our losses are so sad, so distressing, so lonely that even as Christians we can’t feel much of the ‘victorious’ element. Just because you’re a Christian does not mean you don’t mourn and weep over your loss, over the spouse who’s no longer at your side or the child who no longer sits on your knee. And sometimes it comes in waves.
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Nor does it cease after death’s formalities. For months and months the ache never leaves. Much, much later you may sense you’re getting a handle on it, and then while you’re standing in morning worship one Sunday singing My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less something sneaks up on you and turns on the water-works. Does faith make a difference? Of course, it does, but faith doesn’t insulate you from sorrow – in fact, the deeper the love, the closer the relation, the more severe the grief may be. ‘Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.’Dale Ralph Davis, Faith Of Our Fathers – Expositions Of Genesis 12-25, Christian Focus, 2015, pgs 144-145.
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