Grief and Loss.

“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.”

God doesn’t keep His distance from pain. When your heart is broken is exactly when He comes closest.

Live it: Tell God exactly how you feel today, in your own words. No church language needed. He’s close.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Jesus calls mourners blessed, not because grief is good, but because comfort is promised to them.

Live it: Reach out to someone who has walked through loss and let them sit with you. Don’t carry this alone.

“‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.””

This is the end of the story for everyone in Christ. Grief is real, but it isn’t permanent.

Live it: Write down one memory you’re grateful for and thank God for it.

“Jesus wept.”

Jesus wept at His friend’s grave, even though He was about to raise him from the dead. He doesn’t rush you through grief. He feels it with you.

Live it: Don’t hide your tears from God today. Let Him into the hardest part.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

David says “through.” The valley is real, but you won’t stay there, and you won’t walk it alone.

Live it: Read all of Psalm 23 out loud today, slowly. Let every line land.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

God’s comfort isn’t meant to end with you. One day your healing will help someone else heal.

Live it: Let one person in today. Tell someone you trust how you’re really doing.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

The same God who counts the stars bends down to bandage broken hearts. He isn’t too big to care.

Live it: Write down what you’ve lost and give it to God one line at a time.

“Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.”

Paul doesn’t say don’t grieve. He says grieve with hope, because death doesn’t get the last word for those in Christ.

Live it: Thank God today for the hope of the resurrection. Grieve, but grieve with hope.

“For His anger is fleeting, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning.”

David writes that weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Grief has a night. It doesn’t get forever.

Live it: Let yourself grieve today without rushing it. Ask God for a glimpse of morning.

“So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”

Jesus told His grieving disciples their sorrow would turn to joy, and that no one would take that joy away.

Live it: Thank God today for one way He has carried you through the loss so far.

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

The psalmist admits his heart and body fail, but God remains his strength and his portion forever.

Live it: When you feel like you have nothing left today, say this verse. God is still your portion.

“Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!”

Jeremiah wrote this in the middle of a destroyed city. Even there, he found that God’s mercies are new every morning.

Live it: Name one mercy God gave you this morning, however small.

“You have taken account of my wanderings. Put my tears in Your bottle— are they not in Your book?”

David says God keeps track of his sorrows and collects his tears in a bottle. Not one tear is wasted or forgotten.

Live it: Let yourself cry today if you need to. God is keeping every tear.

“to console the mourners in Zion— to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

God promises to give beauty for ashes, joy for mourning and praise for heaviness. He trades what we can’t carry.

Live it: Hand God what feels like ashes today, and ask Him for what He promised in return.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Paul says present sufferings aren’t worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed. What’s coming outweighs what hurts now.

Live it: When the pain feels permanent today, remind yourself it isn’t the whole story.

“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?””

Jesus told a grieving sister, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Death is not the final word for those who believe in Him.

Live it: Read John 11 today and hear Jesus say it to you.

“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.”

The psalmist asks his own soul why it’s downcast, then tells it to hope in God. You can talk back to your sorrow.

Live it: Speak to your own soul today: “Hope in God. I will praise Him again.”

“For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Paul calls our troubles light and momentary compared to the eternal glory they’re producing. We fix our eyes on what lasts.

Live it: Look past today’s pain to what’s eternal. Name one thing that will last.

““Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.”

God told His prophet, “Comfort, comfort My people.” Comforting the hurting is God’s own heart.

Live it: Let someone comfort you today. Don’t push them away.

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.”

The death of His faithful ones is precious in the Lord’s sight. God doesn’t take the loss of His people lightly.

Live it: Thank God today that the one you lost was precious to Him too.

“a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,”

There is a time to weep and a time to mourn. Grief has its season, and it’s allowed.

Live it: Give yourself permission to mourn today without guilt.

“Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.”

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Grief is meant to be shared.

Live it: Let someone weep with you today, or sit with someone else who is grieving.

“This is my comfort in affliction, that Your promise has given me life.”

The psalmist says his comfort in affliction is that God’s promise gives him life. Scripture can keep you breathing.

Live it: Find one promise of God today and hold on to it.

“In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am.”

Jesus told His friends He was going to prepare a place for them, and that He would come back for them. Heaven is a home being prepared.

Live it: Picture the place Jesus is preparing, and thank Him for it.

“He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth. For the LORD has spoken.”

God promises to swallow up death forever and wipe away tears from all faces. Death will be defeated.

Live it: Hold on to this promise today when grief feels final.

“In my distress I called upon the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for His help reached His ears.”

In his distress, David called to the Lord, and God heard him. Your cry reaches Him.

Live it: Call out to God today, even if all you can say is His name.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Jesus understands our weaknesses because He faced every kind of pain. We can come boldly to His throne for mercy and grace.

Live it: Come to God boldly today with exactly how you feel.

“The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.”

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. He’s the safe place when everything shakes.

Live it: When grief hits in waves today, run to Him as your safe place.

“David answered, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let him live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.””

After his child died, David said, “I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” He grieved with hope of reunion.

Live it: Let your grief and your hope sit side by side today.

““Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

Paul shouts at death: where is your sting? Through Jesus, God gives us victory over death.

Live it: Thank God today for the victory Jesus won over death.