play it down and pray it up…

how do i let go of grief?  2 samuel 12.16 & 18 (niv), david pleaded with GOD for the child and he fasted and he went into his house and he spent nights lying on the ground.  but on the seventh day the child died.

david did some things when the child died.  it is the same things you need to do to let go of grief. 

#1.  accept what cannot be changed.  that’s the first thing david did.  he accepted what could not be changed. 

2 samuel 12.22 (niv), then david got up from the ground.  he said, “while the child was still alive, i fasted and wept, but now that he is dead, why should i fast?  can i bring him back to life?”

#2.  play it down and pray it up.  your grief – you play it down and pray it up.  you don’t exaggerate it – “the world has ended!”  the world has not ended. you’re heartbroken but the world has not ended.  you don’t exaggerate it, you dedicate it.  you play it down and you pray it up. 

notice what david did:  the child had died.  2 samuel 12.20b (niv), after he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshipped. 

what did david do with his grief?  he went to church.  and he worshipped.  those of you whose hearts are breaking right now, focus on GOD. 

isaiah 6 says, in the year that king uzziah died i saw the lORD.  he got his eyes off the circumstance and on the ONE who was greater than the circumstance. 

i'm not lessening the significance of your loss but i am saying, for your own sake, you must accept what cannot be changed and you must play it down and pray it up.  that person in your life is not coming back. 

just a thought from the front porch…