For those of you who continuously find yourself trapped in a repetitive season of grief and despair where you are constantly mourning dead things (e.g., people, relationships, or opportunities), then this message is for you. Get up, wash yourself, put lotions on, and change your clothes. Know that although weeping may endure for a night, joy does come in the morning (Psalm 30:5). Mourning the dead things in your life can allow you to turn sadness into joy.
A Time for Sadness
During ancient times, the people of the Bible wore sackcloth and ashes as an outward sign of grieving. In the Book of 2 Samuel, it was more than likely that King David had donned sackcloth and ashes as he grieved his son’s impending death. God had struck the boy as a punishment because he was the product of King David and Bathshea’s sordid affair, whereby King David asked one of his generals to kill Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, in an attempt to conceal the affair and subsequent pregnancy. For seven days, David pleaded with God to spare the boy, but instead the child died on the seventh day. Surprisingly, the Bible says that after the child died, David “got up from the floor, washed himself, put lotions on, and changed his clothes. Then he went into the Lord’s house to worship.” 2 Samuel 12:20.
David’s servants were shocked by his polarized behavior. Prior to the infant’s death, he was inconsolable. For days, he had not moved or eaten, yet in a moment’s time, his entire mood and attitude had shifted.
21 David’s servants said to him, “Why are you doing this? When the baby was still alive, you fasted and you cried. Now that the baby is dead, you get up and eat food.”
22 David said, “While the baby was still alive, I fasted, and I cried. I thought, ‘Who knows? Maybe the Lord will feel sorry for me and let the baby live.’ 23 But now that the baby is dead, why should I fast? I can’t bring him back to life. Someday I will go to him, but he cannot come back to me,” (2 Samuel 12: 22-23, New International Bible, 1978/2011).
Get Up
For many of us, we have cried and fasted for far too long over dead things. Fortunately, the dawn of each day brings new opportunities and new perspectives. For the rest of the year, we should make a concerted effort to get up off the floor, wash ourselves, put lotions on, and change our clothes. For those of us who have been mourning relentlessly, we should realize that many of the dead things for which we have mourned cannot be resuscitated. They are D.E.A.D. Their time has passed, and their season has expired. Contrarily, I find it necessary to mention that there are times when God can restore dead things. Jesus brought Lazarus back to life (John 11:1-44), and God made dead bones rise through the prophet Ezekiel. However, we should pray for wisdom and discernment to distinguish between the two.
Everything Has Its Season
In life, everything has a season. Therefore, grief, pain, and sorrow must be allowed to run their course. David mourned the loss of his son, and he did not abbreviate his grief to appease others. However, he did recognize the need to end his lamentation and to turn his sadness into joy. Similarly, we must allow grief to take its course, but we must also recognize that our grief should have an expiration date. That doesn’t mean that we cannot have nostalgic moments of sadness. Nonetheless, we should abstain from remaining in a perpetual state of despair.
Take Inventory of the Dead Things In Your Life
Today, we should take inventory. We should note the dead things in our lives: relationships, disappointments, loss, rejection, or sorrow. Once we have identified those dead things, we should mourn them for the appropriate time, but after that, we should get up off the floor, wash ourselves, put lotions on, change our clothes, WORSHIP, and turn our sadness into joy!
A Poem of Hope
Songs of Hope by Khadine
For today there is a new song in my heart,
A brand-new day, a brand-new start.
I’ve come to sing a song unknown,
Replacing grief I once bemoaned,
Free from sin which God atoned.
I lift my voice to sing in praise,
Octaves high. Timbre raised,
Ushering my glory phases,
From now until the end of days!
My lips now sing my heart’s new song,
Words of hope my soul has longed.
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Biblical Reference
New International Bible. (2011). The NIV Bible. https://www.thenivbible.com (Original work published 1978)