b.
He is the same today, tomorrow and forever.
C.
Yet another way to deal with grief is by remembering. It is okay to remember because memory will help us deal with grief.
1.
It was good for the author of Lamentations to write down for himself and posterity the horrors that he saw. Memory helps us maintain our focus and enables us to understand that the action reaction cycle is a continual fact of life. Remember what sin did before will help stop more grief because we chose to forget the action and the reaction of what happened before. It is best not to bury the memory but to grow and develop from it.
2.
It is pointless to try to forget hard memories and the grief associated with them because the images are greatly inlayed and therefore will remain too strong for them to fade away.
3.
We also know that repression seems to cause worse problems.
a.
It would seem that remembering and communicating the pain and realities behind our grief is appropriate and healthy.
b.
The recognition of the Lord's mercy can be an important element in helping face these things; therefore let us learn valuable truths and lessons from those things we ought not forget or repress.
c.
It is something like the drunk numbs himself to whatever is bothering him or her and wakes up with added grief such as no money for a place to live, no gas to go to work, no food for hungry children and no drunkard friends to help him or her. Judah could have laid claim to the “disease lie” like a drunk will, or lay hold of the “I was born this way lie” like the abomination group does, or the “it was my environment” or “he was brainwashed liar” will do but the bottom line is SIN BRINGS GRIEF. Excuses will not remove the guilt. Repression will not remove the grief. Folks do what they do because everyone is like Judah was. They were sinners because of nature, choice and practice.
D.
Also another help to deal with grief is by “moving beyond ourselves” to see and come alongside the sufferings of others. We are not alone in grief battle. Seeing others as well as or rather than ourselves aids the process of dealing with grief.
1.
When we personally recognize that God renews His mercies and loving kindnesses in our lives, we should have the will to train the next generation how to deal with their grief.