6 Healing Bible Verses for Comfort in Grief and Loss
I light a white candle, and it casts long shadows on the wall. I think of past winters while the flame flickers, and I open my Bible in search of a few Bible verses for comfort in grief and stinging loss.
The heavy cloud of loss settled like a cloak over my soul, and I wondered if it just might suffocate me.
Bible Verses for Comfort in Grief and Loss
How do you find comfort in grief when the heavy mantle of sadness refuses to lift and sadness is your constant companion?
Let’s soak in six Bible verses for comfort in grief together today.
1. Deuteronomy 31:8
It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
Look to the One who goes before you and will never leave you.
You might not feel God right now. Don’t give up on him.
He promises to stay with you. Cling to what is true while you feel what you feel. God has promised that he will never leave you. He is with you even if you cannot sense his presence. Stand on this promise as you soak in the truth that you are not alone.
2. Psalm 34:17-18
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
God is near.
When our hearts our broken, he is with us. He has not abandoned us, and he wants to bring us comfort.
Perhaps your heart has grown hard toward God as you walk through this dark time. If so, stand on this truth: Jesus is full of compassion. He weeps with those who weep. He cares about you and wants to be your source of comfort.
Pour your heart out to him today. Then, imagine him holding you in his arms as his comfort floods you. He wants to give you strength.
3. Revelation 21:3-4
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
This world is not the end. Billy Graham describes the journey well with these words:
“Some day you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. . . . I will have gone into the presence of God.”
Have hope and find comfort in grief as you remember this life is not the only life. If you have lost a loved one who has gone to be with Jesus, remind yourself that your future with this person is far longer than your past. This pause is merely a comma, not a period.
4. Job 1:20-21
Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
The purest worship I have ever experienced came in one of the darkest valleys.
The purest worship I have ever experienced came in one of the darkest valleys. #worship #healing #JesusHeals Click To TweetWorship God in the dark valley of grief.
Lift your heart in worship, and comfort will rain down in a healing flow. I know it’s not easy.
Today is the day to go to a quiet place. Find a worship song that stirs your heart. Sit with God and bless his name. Something will shift in the deepest part of you.
God will begin a great work of healing in you.
Two More Bible Verses for Comfort in Grief
5. 1 Peter 5:10
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
Ask God to help you trust him with what you don’t understand.
It might feel like your sadness will never lift. It might feel like the grief will always be this heavy.
Some losses leave us a little bit sad until we reach heaven. They change the shape of our hearts. They warrant a kind of longing that won’t be met until we reach heaven. Don’t fight this undercurrent of longing.
But don’t give up hope either. God is able to bring a new level of healing to your broken heart, to take away the sharpness of the sting you feel in the early days of grief.
The secret is this: Keep your heart soft.
Don’t grow hard, bury the pain, or take offense at God.
He is moving in the darkness.
You might be having trouble trusting him with your pain. Instead of blaming him for your heartache, ask him to help you grow in trust.
6. John 16:33
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
Life is hard. Jesus promised trouble. However, he also promised that he had overcome the world.
One day, all pain and sorrow will cease.
Cling to the hope you find in Jesus’ promise. You will face grief and find yourself facedown in sadness at times, but a new day is coming when every tear will be wiped away.
God’s Comfort in Grief and Trouble
And maybe this last verse is what my heart needs most on this winter day: It seems I’m surprised every time life brings trouble. I hunker down and call it “crisis mode.”
All the while, Jesus promised there would be trouble.
Those of us who live longer than a few years will stand over grave sites and hospital beds. We will face difficult futures, sadness, and loss.
Meanwhile, trials are God’s tools for shaping us to look more like his Son. Keep pressing on, dear one. God has not forsaken you. He hasn’t missed a moment, and he wants to comfort you with his love today.
Re-framing Grief and Trouble
I’m re-framing it this January as I remember the hospital days, the tear-filled phone calls, the doubled-over prayers for an end to suffering . . .
Perhaps the greatest wonder of it all is that the King of the world is right beside me at the hospital bed. He’s with me as I mourn over the freshly displaced earth, tremble at each phone call, and struggle through the season.
Perhaps the greatest wonder of it all is that he has experienced every human emotion and suffered every grief we have experienced.
He gets it.
And all the while, he holds out nail-pierced hands, and he offers us peace.
Peace in the midst of our sadness.
Peace to carry us through the valleys.
The peace of knowing he goes with us.
Could this peace be the greatest wonder of it all?
Yes, I’m sure of it now. This is the greatest wonder of it all.
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