DEALING GRIEF/ DISAPPOINTMENTS (IS IT OVER YET)

Matthew 5:4 KJV 1900

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

INTRO DEALING WITH DIFFICULTIES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS

Five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised Grief; Grieve

The RSV uses “grief” to refer to sorrow, pain, and suffering, which may be physical and/or mental in nature. The Suffering Servant is reported to be “acquainted with grief” and to have “borne our griefs.” “Grief” in these expressions literally means “sickness” or “disease” but may be used here for “suffering” in a more general sense (Isa. 53:3f.; cf. Isa. 17:11; Ps. 77:10). The psalmist who complains that his “eye wastes away because of grief” (6:7) is petitioning Yahweh to deliver him from grave illness which has caused such grief that his eyes are wasting away with weeping. Yet it is improper to draw too sharp a distinction between mental and physical suffering in Hebrew thought, which understood a person as a whole rather than as a composite of body and mind. Physical, mental, and even spiritual suffering are interrelated (Ps. 31:9).

Grief is the opposite or surcease of joy (Prov. 14:13) and may result when one is demoralized, as when Jeremiah pondered the fate of Judah (Jer. 8:18). One may experience grief when one has “pangs of conscience” or when one is annoyed or irritated (Prov. 17:21, 25). In 2 Cor. 7:10 Paul made a distinction between a “godly grief”—a deep sorrow that leads to repentance and opens the eyes to the gift of salvation—and a worldly grief that shrinks from guilt. This “worldly grief” blinds a person to the forgiveness offered in Christ and leads him only to deeper and deeper sorrow and finally to death (cf. P. E. Hughes, comm on 2nd Corinthians [NICNT, 1962], pp. 271–73).

To “grieve” is to be (or cause someone to be) sad, troubled, irritated, distressed, or mournful. It is characteristic of the OT to attribute human emotions to Yahweh. The OT reports that Yahweh was grieved by the rebellion of Israel in the wilderness period (Ps. 78:40; cf. Isa. 63:10). Mankind caused Yahweh so much distress and trouble that He was grieved that He even made them (Gen. 6:6). Israel experienced grief during the Exile, when the prophet said that Yahweh called Israel as a wife “forsaken and grieved in spirit” (Isa. 54:6). Though Yahweh was the cause of the grief Israel experienced during the Exile, He will also have compassion on Israel (Lam. 3:32). Both the OT and the NT speak of grieving the Holy Spirit (Isa. 63:10; Eph. 4:30). To grieve means also to mourn the dead, as Samuel mourned the death of Saul (1 S. 15:35) and as David mourned Absalom (2 S. 19:2; cf. 1 Thess. 4:13). Jesus was grieved and angry at the hardness of heart of those around Him when they disapproved of His healing on the sabbath the man who had a withered hand (Mk. 3:5). Peter was grieved when Jesus asked him for the third time, “… do you love me?”

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 KJV 1900

13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

1TH

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 ESV

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1TH 4.13-18

Hope The Greek word used here, elpis, does not refer to wishful thinking; it is the confident expectation that God will fulfill what He has promised.

Paul does not include the material of in order to develop an end-time chronology; rather, he aims to instill hope in the Thessalonians (see especially v. 18).

Hope NDBT

Proverbs 3:5 KJV 1900

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding.

4:14 For if we believe May indicate that this verse was a creedal statement of the early church (compare ).

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 KJV 1900

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: