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Today, we're going to take on a posture of peace by grieving with God.

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Hi, I'm Lindsay Van Zale.

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Posture is a podcast that serves as a short, audible fist bump to remind you that God is

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in everything.

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Together, we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.

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As we continue this week in deepening our friendship with God, I'd like to take today

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to talk about a not-so-fun topic, but a necessary element in strengthening our relationship,

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and that is processing pain and grieving with God.

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In episode 38, I read the cornerstone scripture for the Posture podcast, which is Isaiah 26.3,

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and we talked about how trust in the Lord is the foundation for perfect peace.

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Now, I think there are three key trust issues, or three main questions, really, that many

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of us wrestle with over and over again throughout our lives that keep us from fully accessing

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that perfect peace.

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The first question, is God good?

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The second, does God really love me?

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And third, is God near to me?

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You know, we say things like, I just feel so distant from God right now, or we pray

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prayers asking for Him to show up in the room or show up in the meeting as if He's left

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us.

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Now, all of those questions typically surface the most when we are in a place of pain or

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grief.

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And I think many of us know this, so out of our devotion to the Lord, we choose to put

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off pain or ignore grief because we'd rather our trust just not be messed with.

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You know, we want to be people of faith.

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But here is what I have found in the Word of God.

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Matthew 5, verse 4 says, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

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Psalm 126, verse 5 says, Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy.

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Psalm 147, verse 3 says, The Lord heals the brokenhearted, and He binds up their wounds.

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Psalm 34, verse 18 says, The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and He saves those who

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are crushed in spirit.

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And 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13 talks about how the people of God do not grieve like the

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rest of the world who have no hope.

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There are plenty of scriptures acknowledging that there will indeed be times of pain and

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grief in our lives, but the promise is that the pain and grief is not going to lead us

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to the same outcomes that the world experiences, which is hopelessness.

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But instead, we can grieve because we have hope.

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I used to never admit when I was in pain emotionally, mentally, or even physically at times, like

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when I was sick, because I believed that it would hurt my faith.

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I believed that to express the pain was a depletion of my faith, if you will.

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But with these promises in mind, I actually now realize that to ignore pain lacks faith

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because it implies that I actually believe that God can't heal me from my pain.

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There have been times when I have thought, if I start crying right now, I don't think

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I'm ever going to stop.

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I think I will permanently be depressed.

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And there have been other times when I thought, if I admit how much this person has hurt me,

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I'm going to be taken over with bitterness and I'm not going to be able to break free

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from offense.

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You know, I've also thought at times, if I think about all that has been lost, I'm going

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to become hopeless.

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You know, all of those beliefs about the pain actually bred an unbelief in me about God's

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goodness and His faithfulness, because I wasn't expecting to be comforted.

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I wasn't expecting to reap joy.

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I wasn't expecting Him to heal my broken heart or bind up my wounds.

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I wasn't expecting Him to draw near to me while I dealt with my brokenness.

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Instead, I was expecting to get stuck in the pain forever.

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And if you can relate, I want you to know, God did not save you from your sins to leave

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you a prisoner to pain.

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He will do what He promised to do.

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He will comfort and heal and redeem and restore, and He will make you whole, but you have to

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trust Him.

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You see, I had the faith that God could do all those things.

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I believed that God could heal and He could redeem and He could restore, but I didn't

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trust fully that He could do it for me.

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me. So instead of grieving with him and entrusting him with my pain, I took on

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the responsibility of managing my own pain by internalizing it and refusing to

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grieve. But God is so faithful and the Holy Spirit led me in truth, led me into

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this word, these promises, and now when there is pain, I'm quick to bring it to

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God. I process it with him and I grieve with him. You might be asking, like, how do

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you do that? Well, I do it just like I would with a trustworthy friend. I talk

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about it, I cry with him, I ask him hard questions, and yet I do all those things

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with an expectation now, a different expectation. I come expecting to receive

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comfort and healing and restoration and redemption and hope. You know, as I'm

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recording this podcast right now, we are in the midst of Holy Week and we are

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leading into a full-blown celebration of Jesus's resurrection on the cross.

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Isaiah 53 4 says that on the cross Jesus took up your pain and he bore your

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suffering. Jesus can bear your pain. It's never been too much for him to handle. So

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today, if you are holding on to pain by trying to ignore it or internalize it,

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take time to grieve with God. Give him the opportunity to comfort you and prove

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his faithfulness. And don't believe the lie that if you also seek out a trusted

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friend or counselor to talk during your your time of grief that it lacks faith

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somehow. God is so kind to give us the gift of each other, I think especially

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for times like this when there's pain and there's grief. So today, know this,

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you can sow in tears with a trust that you will reap with joy. The promise of

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perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26 3 and in Hebrew it is shalom shalom,

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meaning complete wholeness. Nothing missing, nothing broken. This is who you

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are in Jesus. Let's declare this together. Today I am kept in perfect

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peace. With my whole heart I trust the Lord. I am strong. I am victorious. I am

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whole. Remember friend, you are a living testimony of Jesus's ultimate win. Not

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because of anything you did but because of what he did for you. With every step

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you take today, you're putting Jesus's victory on display and Satan's defeat on

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replay.