Grief that comes from the loss of someone or something can be devastating.  It can immobilize our faith. So can divorce or failure. The wisest of counsel cannot produce our healing 

The evidence that we have crossed the Rubicon of our suffering is the presence of joy in our pain. This is not some flippant emotional display of joy. It is a joy that comes because, in the middle of the pain of our loss, we begin to trust the Lord no matter what we are feeling. 

Grief has no timeline. It can imprison our lives. With God, something else is possible: “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5). In all forms of grief, we are promised joy, even as the pain of our loss still holds us in its grasp.

This joy can seem strange, out of place, and inappropriate for those who are sharing in our mourning. When we choose to worship the Lord in our time of grief, it opens the door of our soul to experience a deeper expression of worship: “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent” (Psalm 30: 11-12).

Turning our mourning into joyful dancing is something only God can do. It is the changing of the garments of mourning for the garments of joy. This is evidenced by the focus of our worship. For some who are deep in grief, it can seem impossible to imagine such a change is possible. 

If we have allowed our grief to remain unchallenged, it can even affect our health. David, said, “I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Sin has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within” (Psalm 31:10). Grief can become a grist that grinds away any possibility of a hopeful future. Only by worshipping the Lord in the depths of our pain can He take us from the dark night of our grief into a new day filled with hope where all aspects of our being are healed.

Somewhere in our grieving, we need to acknowledge that our continued focus on our grief will become a sin. It is a sin because we have focused so much on our grief and its immobilizing pain that it becomes an object of worship. David said in the middle of his grief that he would not allow his grief to silence his worship of God.

There is a point when our garments of grief will experience a supernatural change if we focus on the Lord and begin to worship Him. In that moment our perspective of our life will be transformed because we have chosen to trust the Lord, “But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, you are my God! My future is in your hands” (31:14-15). 

Trusting God with our future will open the door to our healing. Only by trusting in God and worshipping Him in the pain of our loss can the first glimpse of a new future be seen.