Day 9/25 – Grief and Anger

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
Grief and Anger
Day Two Hundred Sixty-eight

“And Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had disgraced him.” 1 Samuel 20:34

Grief and anger are not the same, but they know each other well. Often the two go together, feeding on each other. Jonathan’s father, King Saul, sought to kill David. Because of the friendship between David and Jonathan, the son was angry with the father and grieved for his friend. It made Jonathan angry that his father wanted to kill David, causing him to grieve over the difficulty in which David found himself.

There are many things worse than death and experiencing excruciating pain is one of them; grief is a manifestation of pain. For example, you watch a loved one suffering terribly with cancer. You grieve for them, wishing that they could die and end their misery, and then feel guilty over your reaction. You are angry with God for not stopping the suffering, and at yourself for not responding in a more biblical fashion. Or, you may be the one with the cancer, grieving over your pain and angry with God for bringing the cancer into your life.

Mixing gratitude with grief is the only antidote to anger; anger is a manifestation of ingratitude. As you pass ”through the valley of the shadow of death,”351 you
express gratitude to God, for you know that “all things work together for good to them that love God.”352 With gratitude you affirm God’s goodness in the midst of your grief, and the anger dissipates.

351 Psalm 23:4
352 Romans 8:28

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Song of Solomon 6-8 Galatians 4 (New King James Version)

Song of Solomon 6-8
I Am My Beloved’s
The Daughters of Jerusalem
6
Where has your beloved gone,
O fairest among women?
Where has your beloved turned aside,
That we may seek him with you?
The Shulamite
2
My beloved has gone to his garden,
To the beds of spices,
To feed his flock in the gardens,
And to gather lilies.
3
I am my beloved’s,
And my beloved is mine.
He feeds his flock among the lilies.
Praise of the Shulamite’s Beauty
The Beloved
4
O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah,
Lovely as Jerusalem,
Awesome as an army with banners!
5
Turn your eyes away from me,
For they have [a]overcome me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
Going down from Gilead.
6
Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
Which have come up from the washing;
Every one bears twins,
And none is [b]barren among them.
7
Like a piece of pomegranate
Are your temples behind your veil.
8
There are sixty queens
And eighty concubines,
And virgins without number.
9
My dove, my perfect one,
Is the only one,
The only one of her mother,
The favorite of the one who bore her.
The daughters saw her
And called her blessed,
The queens and the concubines,
And they praised her.
10
Who is she who looks forth as the morning,
Fair as the moon,
Clear as the sun,
Awesome as an army with banners?
The Shulamite
11
I went down to the garden of nuts
To see the verdure of the valley,
To see whether the vine had budded
And the pomegranates had bloomed.
12
Before I was even aware,
My soul had made me
As the chariots of [c]my noble people.
The Beloved and His Friends
13
Return, return, O Shulamite;
Return, return, that we may look upon you!
The Shulamite
What would you see in the Shulamite—
As it were, the dance of [d]the two camps?
Expressions of Praise
The Beloved
7
How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O prince’s daughter!
The curves of your thighs are like jewels,
The work of the hands of a skillful workman.
2
Your navel is a rounded goblet;
It lacks no [e]blended beverage.
Your waist is a heap of wheat
Set about with lilies.
3
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle.
4
Your neck is like an ivory tower,
Your eyes like the pools in Heshbon
By the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
Which looks toward Damascus.
5
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel,
And the hair of your head is like purple;
A king is held captive by your tresses.
6
How fair and how pleasant you are,
O love, with your delights!
7
This stature of yours is like a palm tree,
And your breasts like its clusters.
8
I said, “I will go up to the palm tree,
I will take hold of its branches.”
Let now your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
The fragrance of your [f]breath like apples,
9
And the roof of your mouth like the best wine.
The Shulamite
The wine goes down smoothly for my beloved,
[g]Moving gently the [h]lips of sleepers.
10
I am my beloved’s,
And his desire is toward me.
11
Come, my beloved,
Let us go forth to the field;
Let us lodge in the villages.
12
Let us get up early to the vineyards;
Let us see if the vine has budded,
Whether the grape blossoms are open,
And the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13
The mandrakes give off a fragrance,
And at our gates are pleasant fruits,
All manner, new and old,
Which I have laid up for you, my beloved.
Lovers Reunited at Their Country Home
8
Oh, that you were like my brother,
Who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I should find you outside,
I would kiss you;
I would not be despised.
2
I would lead you and bring you
Into the house of my mother,
She who used to instruct me.
I would cause you to drink of spiced wine,
Of the juice of my pomegranate.
(To the Daughters of Jerusalem)
3
His left hand is under my head,
And his right hand embraces me.
4
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.
Love Renewed in Lebanon
A Relative
5
Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
I awakened you under the apple tree.
There your mother brought you forth;
There she who bore you brought you forth.
The Shulamite to Her Beloved
6
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
As a seal upon your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
Jealousy as [i]cruel as [j]the grave;
Its flames are flames of fire,
[k]A most vehement flame.
7
Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.
If a man would give for love
All the wealth of his house,
It would be utterly despised.
The Shulamite’s Brothers
8
We have a little sister,
And she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she is spoken for?
9
If she is a wall,
We will build upon her
A battlement of silver;
And if she is a door,
We will enclose her
With boards of cedar.
The Shulamite
10
I am a wall,
And my breasts like towers;
Then I became in his eyes
As one who found peace.
11
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon;
He leased the vineyard to keepers;
Everyone was to bring for its fruit
A thousand silver coins.
(To Solomon)
12
My own vineyard is before me.
You, O Solomon, may have a thousand,
And those who tend its fruit two hundred.
The Beloved
13
You who dwell in the gardens,
The companions listen for your voice—
Let me hear it!
The Shulamite
14
Make[l] haste, my beloved,
And be like a gazelle
Or a young stag
On the mountains of spices.
Footnotes:
• Song of Solomon 6:5 overwhelmed
• Song of Solomon 6:6 bereaved
• Song of Solomon 6:12 Heb. Ammi Nadib
• Song of Solomon 6:13 Heb. Mahanaim
• Song of Solomon 7:2 Lit. mixed or spiced drink
• Song of Solomon 7:8 Lit. nose
• Song of Solomon 7:9 Gliding over
• Song of Solomon 7:9 LXX, Syr., Vg. lips and teeth.
• Song of Solomon 8:6 severe, lit. hard
• Song of Solomon 8:6 Or Sheol
• Song of Solomon 8:6 Lit. A flame of Yah, poetic form of YHWH, the Lord
• Song of Solomon 8:14 Hurry, lit. Flee

Galatians 4
Sons and Heirs Through Christ
4 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born[a] of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, [b]“Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir [c]of God [d]through Christ.
Fears for the Church
8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. 9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.
12 Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. 13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. 14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an [e]angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 [f]What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
17 They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. 18 But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, 20 I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.
Two Covenants
21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, 24 which things are symbolic. For these are [g]the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— 25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— 26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written:
“Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband.”
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
Footnotes:
• Galatians 4:4 Or made
• Galatians 4:6 Lit., in Aram., Father
• Galatians 4:7 NU through God
• Galatians 4:7 NU omits through Christ
• Galatians 4:14 Or messenger
• Galatians 4:15 NU Where
• Galatians 4:24 NU, M omit the