A Word on Joel Osteen and a Lesson in Job

Anyone who even has an inkling of an idea of who I am knows how mad Joel Osteen's view on grief makes me. It's simply wrong and there is ZERO Biblical basis for it.

Job, a righteous man, lost everything. Absolutely everything. He went from being very very rich to very very poor. Every.single.one of his children was killed in a tragic accident. His beloved wife, in the throes of her grief, told him to "curse God and die."

And Job grieved.

 Job also had some "friends" who were did not support him, gave him some very bad doctrine (God wouldn't punish you unless you had done something wrong), and with friends like those, who needs enemies?

Eventually, God spoke to Job. Here are two things God did not do:

God did not tell Job "why". It probably would have been very easy to give Job the background of what happened, how Satan tried to destroy Job's faith. A lot of people ask "well, why DIDN'T God tell him?" Well, I don't know. Who's to say Job would have understood? I have no idea.

But I'll give you a bit of background on my story. When I lost my firstborn, I had no idea why. And I felt like I needed to know "why". What happened? What did I do? Was it because I lifted that box? Should I have carried all of those groceries up four flights of stairs? Should I have moved that stupid fan? And on and on and on the questions went. Exactly a year later, I gave birth to Ella at 35 weeks and I found out "why." I have an incompetent cervix, which causes me to go into labor early. It's a miracle Ella stayed in as long as she did. There. I had my "why". And it didn't satisfy me. When I turned back to Christ, I realized another facet of the "why". Because God used this terrible event in my life to bring me back to Him. He uses me on a daily basis to provide comfort to those who need it. And I still don't fully understand the "why", but I know that I am not alone. And that's more important than the "why."

You know what else God did not do?

HE NEVER TOLD JOB TO GET OVER IT. Job went on to have more kids, but THEY DID NOT REPLACE THE CHILDREN OF HIS THAT DIED. God never said, "O.k. Job, I'm here. Now stop grieving and get over it." He never said, "Now that you have more kids, you can quit your grieving." You can check the Bible. That's not there.

Isaiah 53:4 says "Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows."

He knows grief. He is near to the brokenhearted. He doesn't drop us on our butts and say "You can't have a full life if you don't move on!" He HELPS us to heal. And healing can take a lifetime.

"Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power, who can understand?"

We don't understand God. Why not? Well, simply put, because He is God and we are not. His great plan is beyond our comprehension. I know that one day, everything will come to light and then we'll understand.

Until that day, God is always there. He never leaves us. He doesn't tell us to "quit our grieving", he helps us HEAL.