good grief?

I don’t want to be sad. No one does. More so, who wants to grieve? Grief is that deep, stabbing sadness we have when something or someone is lost forever.

Peter, writing in the first chapter of his first book (v6-7), reminds me that even grief has a role in my faith. He puts it like this: “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire —may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

Not really comforting, is it? But it’s an important thing - without this test of grief, how will I, or anyone else, know the truth about my faith? Will I cling to God in my sorrow? Will I trust Him when I don’t understand? Will I still sing praises and give thanks? Or will I despair, get angry, give up on God, become bitter?

It’s no different than math or my driver’s license, without the test no one really knows if I get it or not. Faith even in grief and trials, especially expressed in trust and gratitude, shows those around me a lot more about the God I follow than anything I do when times are good.

Just like fearful things bring out courage, the grieving times of my life will show what I really believe. My reaction to trials either proves or disproves my words.

So what does that mean for my behavior when I have minor inconveniences? Ouch! I’d rather not think about that too much. But maybe I need to.