The Cause of Grief

UV 502/10,000 Lamentations 3 v 32 Cause of Grief Lam 3:32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. The question is often asked, “ why do good things happen to bad people and bad things to good people?” The Lord does not willingly afflict the children of men. He does not wish to grieve us in any way. It is true that nothing happens to us without His knowledge and will. But, He causes it to happen for a purpose that can sometimes only be understood from a long term or eternal perspective. It is axiomatic that we learn more during times of pain than from times of pleasure. His compassion is like a huge reservoir and His mercies are like thousands or multitudes of channels that flow from that reservoir. Our souls would be dry and die in due course if those channels do not irrigate the different fields of our lives. Our souls are more valuable to the Lord- our grief and present troubles are diminished in comparison. It is like the necessary pain that a surgeon unwillingly inflicts on a child to remove a life-threatening tumour. For the salvation of our souls, the expansion, purification and sanctification of our faith, He by His express will and permissive will permits a degree of pain into our lives, a degree of pain that we can bear. But, how does one explain the premature loss of a beloved child, a parent or spouse before one’s time? The Lord sees the trajectory of our lives- where it would lead to in our pursuits in this world. He tries many other ways to correct our paths, failing which He is compelled to allow an extreme sorrow-in His view a necessary intervention in our lives to correct our focus. Yet, there are many traumatic events in our lives and history that cannot be fully explained in terms of this: the mindless killing of six million Jews in Hitler’s Germany, the recent mindless killing by James Holmes in Aurora, Colorado. Where our understanding fails and no explanation is adequate, we only need to trust the Lord for His abundant compassion, the multitudinous ways in which He shows mercy upon us. We need to be sensitive to the move of the Lord in our lives. I once cried out, “ Lord, I have had enough pain in my life so far.. Now, whatever You need to tell me, do let me know in as gentle a way as possible. Even if my toe strikes a stone, I will know and understand You are trying to draw my attention to some detail in my life that needs mending.” The Lord has kept His side of this personal covenant while I am not quite sure I have done so on my part. Prateep V Philip