Grace for the Grieving

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.“

+Psalm 46:1

Grace for the Grieving

Recently, both my cousin and my dear friend unexpectedly passed away. Never did I think I would feel the feelings and face the challenges I would face. But I did. And God has been good. Trying to make sense of the darkness, I wrestled with God’s goodness and the reason for these occurrences. Receiving counsel, I was reminded that grief comes in waves. You cannot anticipate when the waves will come, but when they do, you have to traverse through them and hang onto the One who holds the anchor. Jesus is our strength in the valleys of life. When we are mourning the loss of a loved one or friend, it will be hard. It will be unbearable. It will hit you out of nowhere. You will feel depressed. You will feel angry. You will feel great hurt in your heart. This is the process. Grief takes time. I’m certainly no expert! Losing someone close to you is never easy. It hurts, and hurts bad. As a good friend told me, the pain you feel is proof that you loved the person. The greater the love you had for them, the greater the hurt you feel in their loss. God provides grace for us who know Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. He is our source of strength, and when we feel weak, vulnerable, mentally, emotionally, and physically spent, we can cry out to our God who is our Rock and Refuge. We can cry and carry our tears to heaven as we pray to our Father and ask Him for strength. We can open His Word to the Psalms and use God’s word to pray it back to Him. The Lord is our “light and our salvation,” our “refuge and strength,” and “very present help in trouble” (Ps. 27:1; 46:1).

A Present Help and Hope

These are not just words on a page, they are truths to be treasured. When life gets to be too much to bear, we must remember God’s care for us. He is our Heavenly Father, who saved us forever by grace through faith in Christ and through the filling of the Spirit. He will not disregard us when we suffer, cast us aside or be distant from us. Instead, God draws near to the broken-hearted and mends the wounds of the hurting. God does not disengage from us when we suffer. We may choose to disengage from Him, but He does not let us go when the storms come. As we face the crashing waves, Christ is the lighthouse beaming light into the fury of the storm. In the uncertainty, the doubt, the fear and despair, we can lean on Him because He loves us. And proof of His love is that He will never let go of His own. In your darkest times, your deepest grief, sometimes all you can do is ask God to hold you. He will, when you pray to Him, and ask for faith to trust Him. As believers, we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength (Phil. 4:13). It is not because we are strong. We are very weak and needy creatures! It is because Christ is strong and as we face the varied trials of life, he is our anchor that holds us down. Because Jesus rose again from death on a cross, and now sits on heaven’s throne in victory, he freely gives his strength through the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. Hope is not found in the absence of our pain. It is found in the presence of our God in times of need. Let’s take it one day at a time, one step at a time and wait for God’s healing. Many blessings. Your friend,

Steve