Too Much Grief

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Christians should be joyful people, but grief inevitably enters our lives for seasons. When grief enters in, moving beyond it can be difficult, and feelings of guilt for not rejoicing in everything that God sends our way can be a heavy burden for us because we’ve been given so much and we’re commanded to rejoice (see the entire book of Philippians). I recently noticed an example of this in the Bible in a passage I’ve read many times. In I Samuel 15, Saul’s disobedience to God’s instructions about utterly destroying everything related to the Amalek nation led to his removal from the throne. Because of this removal, Samuel’s relationship with Saul was severed, and as a result of this, “Samuel grieved over Saul, and the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel” (vs. 35). Sometimes we grieve over the loss of fellowship, the death of dreams, and other plans that we’ve held dear that haven’t panned out for us, and this is not abnormal. What’s not normal is grieving excessively for a long period of time—especially when it’s clear that what we’re grieving for is something that obviously wasn’t God’s will for our lives. God regretted that he had made Saul the king, but He moved through that regret faster than Samuel, who had a hard time letting go of his grief. God asks him in I Sam. 16:1: “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel?” Then God gave Samuel the task of anointing the new king, and Samuel obeyed. He located David, anointed him with oil and went back home to Ramah (16:13). Sometimes it takes acting in obedience and doing the next thing to get past our grief. I would love to say that with Samuel’s obedience, his joy returned, but I don’t know, and the Bible doesn’t say. He is only mentioned twice after this in I Samuel—once when David flees to him in Ramah after one of the many times Saul tried to kill him (Ch. 19) and again at his death (Ch. 25). Regardless of how Samuel dealt with his grief (or not), God’s wishes are clear—don’t wallow in our grief—and it's definitely to our benefit to obey them.

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