"And the Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended." ... Deuteronomy 34:8
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I love this, truly I do.
"...the Lord said to Joshua, "Moses My servant is dead. So now arise, go ... you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them." Joshua 1:1,2
Why? Because there comes a time to end our mourning and move onto new places, otherwise we condescend to live without joy and that leads to living without strength--and we become weaklings. You know, everything overwhelms us, everything is too hard, too sad.
So God, for our sakes, commands us to take up our mourning beds and walk, walk back into joy and strength and abundant life. But does He just tell us? No, He enables us to do so--and that nudge contains all the joy, all the strength we need.
Hallelujah.
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Isaiah 55:12
For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
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Again, God's not saying we shouldn't grieve at all (I once heard an evangelist preach that God does say that(!) ), but rather, there comes a time to end the grieving and move on in joy to special places He wants to take us.
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Oh! Susan Branch shared her Peter Rabbit Room today. Love it.
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Reading this post I suddenly wondered if we [human-kind] hang onto grief too long because we don't know how to "be" next--feeling disloyal to let go of something/someone that has hurt?
ReplyDeleteVery thought provoking.
I have found that the best thing to get me over the loss of death is a big dose of LIFE! We and the world's living things are still living and that vitality heals my mourning heart. (Not to say that I don't miss my departed ones, though.) May your lives will be continually infused with love and joy! :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent post!
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