Day 7/10 – Unnecessary Grief

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
Unnecessary Grief
Day One Hundred Ninety-one

“The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, ‘0 my son Absalom, 0 Absalom, my son, my son!”‘ 2 Samuel19:4

David’s son Absalom killed his half-brother Amnon because he had violated Absalom’s sister Tamar. In anger, David refused to have any dealings with Absalom. So Absalom stole the kingdom from his father, causing David to flee for his life. Civil war resulted in David’s restoration and Absalom’s death. David expressed excessive grief over the death of his son, so much so that Joab had to rebuke him, warning David that he was about to lose the hearts of his people.

Often, when relationships are estranged, people have difficulty coping with death. The dead leave behind unresolved conflict that adds guilt to grief. A woman had a terrible relationship with her husband, and when he died she constantly drew attention to the magnitude of her love for him and her loss. She was incapable of emotionally letting go due to her guilty conscience over the way she treated her husband when he was alive.

Paul cautions, “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,”264 Keep short accounts, especially with those you love. You do not know the future or when God will take either you or your loved one. A close friend, who because of his job traveled a great deal, applied this principle by making sure that he spent individual time with each family member before each trip, to ensure that all was well. Whatever your method, do not compound your grief by your guilt in not handling your relationships in a biblical fashion.

264 Ephesians 4:26

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Job 41-42 Acts 16:22-40 (New King James Version)

Job 41-42
God’s Power in the Leviathan
41
“Can you draw out Leviathan[a] with a hook,
Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower?
2
Can you put a reed through his nose,
Or pierce his jaw with a [b]hook?
3
Will he make many supplications to you?
Will he speak softly to you?
4
Will he make a covenant with you?
Will you take him as a servant forever?
5
Will you play with him as with a bird,
Or will you leash him for your maidens?
6
Will your companions [c]make a banquet of him?
Will they apportion him among the merchants?
7
Can you fill his skin with harpoons,
Or his head with fishing spears?
8
Lay your hand on him;
Remember the battle—
Never do it again!
9
Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is false;
Shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him?
10
No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up.
Who then is able to stand against Me?
11
Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him?
Everything under heaven is Mine.
12
“I will not [d]conceal his limbs,
His mighty power, or his graceful proportions.
13
Who can [e]remove his outer coat?
Who can approach him with a double bridle?
14
Who can open the doors of his face,
With his terrible teeth all around?
15
His rows of [f]scales are his pride,
Shut up tightly as with a seal;
16
One is so near another
That no air can come between them;
17
They are joined one to another,
They stick together and cannot be parted.
18
His sneezings flash forth light,
And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19
Out of his mouth go burning lights;
Sparks of fire shoot out.
20
Smoke goes out of his nostrils,
As from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21
His breath kindles coals,
And a flame goes out of his mouth.
22
Strength dwells in his neck,
And [g]sorrow dances before him.
23
The folds of his flesh are joined together;
They are firm on him and cannot be moved.
24
His heart is as hard as stone,
Even as hard as the lower millstone.
25
When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid;
Because of his crashings they [h]are beside themselves.
26
Though the sword reaches him, it cannot avail;
Nor does spear, dart, or javelin.
27
He regards iron as straw,
And bronze as rotten wood.
28
The arrow cannot make him flee;
Slingstones become like stubble to him.
29
Darts are regarded as straw;
He laughs at the threat of javelins.
30
His undersides are like sharp potsherds;
He spreads pointed marks in the mire.
31
He makes the deep boil like a pot;
He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32
He leaves a shining wake behind him;
One would think the deep had white hair.
33
On earth there is nothing like him,
Which is made without fear.
34
He beholds every high thing;
He is king over all the children of pride.”
Job’s Repentance and Restoration
42 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
2
“I know that You can do everything,
And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
3
You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4
Listen, please, and let me speak;
You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’
5
“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees You.
6
Therefore I abhor[i] myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.”
7 And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. 8 Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept [j]him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”
9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord commanded them; for the Lord had [k]accepted Job. 10 And the Lord [l]restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold.
12 Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. 13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first [m]Jemimah, the name of the second [n]Keziah, and the name of the third [o]Keren-Happuch. 15 In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
16 After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. 17 So Job died, old and full of days.
Footnotes:
• Job 41:1 A large sea creature, exact identity unknown
• Job 41:2 thorn
• Job 41:6 Or bargain over him
• Job 41:12 Lit. keep silent about
• Job 41:13 Lit. take off the face of his garment
• Job 41:15 Lit. shields
• Job 41:22 despair
• Job 41:25 Or purify themselves
• Job 42:6 despise
• Job 42:8 Lit. his face
• Job 42:9 Lit. lifted up the face of Job
• Job 42:10 Lit. turned the captivity of Job, what was captured from Job
• Job 42:14 Lit. Handsome as the Day
• Job 42:14 Cassia, a fragrance
• Job 42:14 Lit. The Horn of Color or The Colorful Ray

Acts 16:22-40
22 Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. 23 And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
The Philippian Jailer Saved
25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”
29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.
Paul Refuses to Depart Secretly
35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the [a]officers, saying, “Let those men go.”
36 So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.”
38 And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. 39 Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city. 40 So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.
Footnotes:
• Acts 16:35 lictors, lit. rod bearers