Grief is Permitted

I've been reading John Flavel's Facing Grief and have found it to be an excellent read. Its thrust is counsel to those have have lost their loved ones and is based on Luke 7:13. The counsel to the reader is insightful and can be applied to any kind of grief we encounter. Permit me to highlight chapter three, Sorrow Permitted to Christian Mourners:

1. The afflicted must be allowed an awakened and tender sense of the Lord's afflicting hand.
2. We must allow the mourning, afflicted soul a due and comely expression of his grief and sorrow in his complaints both to God and men.
3.The afflicted person may (ordinarily) accuse, judge, and condemn himself, for being the cause and procurer of his own troubles.
4. The afflicted Christian may, in a humble, submissive manner, plead with God, and be earnest for the removal of his affliction.

This is one of the best little books to come from Banner of Truth this year. If you're grieving, this may help.

More on this great little tome later...