Hi how are you all? I am good now but had a sinus infection last week which wasn’t fun. How was your week?
This week I was going to continue part 2 of the blog from last week but just felt that I needed to blog on the above topic.
I have had to deal with loss this week, not of a person but of roles. It seems funny that a person could grieve over that but it is possible.
Let’s have a quick look at the definitions of grief and loss. In the Oxford dictionary:
- Grief means intense sorry or trouble or annoyance. Grief is mostly associated with losing a person.
- One of the definitions of loss is the feeling of grief after losing someone or something of value
When we lose something of value to us, we can experience loss with the feeling of grief.
This can happen when we retire, someone takes a role off us, we have to move cities, churches, schools or communities. It can also happen in a friend group.
So let’s look at what the Bible says of loss in this context. We are going to look at the verses in Genesis 26 starting at verse 17 in the Message Bible:
17-18 So Isaac left. He camped in the valley of Gerar and settled down there. Isaac dug again the wells which were dug in the days of his father Abraham but had been clogged up by the Philistines after Abraham’s death. And he renamed them, using the original names his father had given them.
19-24 One day, as Isaac’s servants were digging in the valley, they came on a well of spring water. The shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s shepherds, claiming, “This water is ours.” So Isaac named the well Esek (Quarrel) because they quarreled over it. They dug another well and there was a difference over that one also, so he named it Sitnah (Accusation). He went on from there and dug yet another well. But there was no fighting over this one so he named it Rehoboth (Wide-Open Spaces), saying, “Now God has given us plenty of space to spread out in the land.” From there he went up to Beersheba. That very night God appeared to him and said,
I am the God of Abraham your father;
don’t fear a thing because I’m with you.
I’ll bless you and make your children flourish
because of Abraham my servant.
25 Isaac built an altar there and prayed, calling on God by name. He pitched his tent and his servants started digging another well.
These verses start off with Isaac digging wells that his father had dug but had been filled in. Once all the hard work was done, the shepherds came and said it was their well. So Isaac lost that one. His shepherds had to go and find another well to water the flocks.
So they went and dug another well. Once all the hard work was done, again there was fighting over it and they lost that well too.
So once again, the shepherds had to find another well. They came across a third well and this one there was no quarrelling over it and it became theirs.
Does this story ring true in your life? You started something and had worked hard at it only for it to be taken away. Then you started something else and worked hard at it only for it to be taken away.
What do we do in these circumstances? Notice that Isaac’s shepherds just moved on until they found the next well.
Sometimes we need to do that in the spiritual. We just need to move on until we find the place, the role, the promotion, the friend group that God really has for us.
Notice what happened after the last well was dug and it was where they were meant to be. God appeared to them and Isaac built an altar there.
It is only when we are where God wants us that Gods presence will be there. It is when we are walking in His will that we feel close to God.
Loss is not meant to take from us but to propel us into our future. God knows where we are meant to be and what we should be doing. When we are stubborn and allow quarrelling and accusation to keep us in the place God doesn’t want us, is when we make that loss more painful. Notice I didn’t say God but we.
We are the ones that are stubborn and won’t allow God to move us on. Are you where you are meant to be and doing the things you are meant to do? I can’t answer that for you. You will need to seek God but be open to His answers and not your own desires.
In this year of renewal, let’s find ourselves in the right position in His army and doing what God has called and purposed us to do.
There is no greater joy than to be found in His will and in His presence.
Bless you and keep living the life God intended for you.
Karen
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