Grief, the Devil and the Passing of a Loved One

I have first hand knowledge about grief during the loss of a loved one. Actually I'm still walking down the path of grief because of the death of my youngest son Noah. Grief is never easy, and it does take a while to process. The number one thing that God has taught me through all of this is that it looks different for every person. There is no right or wrong way to grieve, you must just take each day as you find it, and keep walking one step at a time.

Well meaning people will try to help you in your grief. They may tell you how they handled it when their loved one died, or possibly you will run into the person who shoots Scripture at you like a machine gun. Or my all time favorite is the person who feels it necessary to say something that to them is important, but to the hearer is absolute lunacy.

Let me give you an example, I once heard of a person who walked up to a grieving widow a short time after her husband has passed away and said, "I understand what you're going through because I've had a really rough week too, something bad happened to my car." Seriously? You've had a rough week? This lady's husband just died, and you are saying that your car damage relates to that?

Let me just say one thing here concerning the death of my Pastor and friend David Emigh. This was not the will of God, an act of God or sanctioned by God. This has the enemy's handiwork all over it. In John 10:10 it says, "The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy, I (Jesus) have come that you might have life and life to the full." Here is the Scripture that we can base everything on. So, if something is stolen, then the devil is the cause of it, if there is death, it's the devil that is the cause of that too, and if anything is destroyed then once again, we know it is the devil. Jesus tells us that His whole purpose is to bring us life and life to the full.

Okay then, we know the devil is bad, and God is good. So please, please, please before you try and lay the blame of this tragedy on someone's shoulders will you please be sure and place it on the correct one? (That would be the devil.) And if you didn't understand what I said in the previous paragraph, or I didn't make it clear enough, let me make it perfectly clear here, God did not take Pastor David Emigh.

The next weeks and months will be tough, stay focused on the truths in God's Word during this time. And if you hear people saying things that are not according to the Word, gently nudge them in the right direction, back to what God's Word says. The Word is true no matter what happens in this life, it never changes. I'm living proof of that. Stay strong saints, we've got a lot of work left to do. In closing, let me quote my friend Pastor Daniel Shirley, "Today Pastor David has a little better view of the fruit of his labors, but its not all in yet. Pastor, we'll get the rest of it."