Dealing with Grief and Loss

When we are reeling from the shock and sorrow of a great loss, several truths from the Bible can help us recover inner peace and joy:

Jesus knows, cares, and prays for us: Hebrews 2:18; 4:14-16; Romans 34.

Our affliction is temporary, and (relatively) light, compared to the glory of God that will be given us later: 2 Corinthians 4:17-18.
We have a better future coming – the glory of God that will be revealed in us: Romans 8:18.

In some mysterious way, our afflictions will be used by God for our good, as long as we love him first and foremost in our lives: Romans 8:28.

In the midst of our severe trial, God, who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all and for our salvation, will freely give us all that we really need: Romans 8:32.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus: Romans 8:38-39.
God the Father himself will, in the New Heaven and the New Earth, wipe away all our tears from our eyes: Revelation 21:4.

God will comfort us even now in all our afflictions, so that we may comfort those who are in any affliction with the same comfort with which we have been comforted by God: 2 Corinthians 1:4

Indeed, our afflictions – and our comforts from God - are given us partly to equip us to bring comfort to others: 2 Corinthians 1:6.

At the same time, it is good for us to ask God whether some of our grief and pain maybe God’s loving discipline for some sin of action or of attitude which we have committed. Our afflictions and pain are meant (partly) to refine and purify us: Hebrews 12:3-11.

We should ask the Lord to show us whether we have:

-Loved the world rather than God: 1 John 2:15.

-Worshiped some idol in our hearts, something or someone that we have placed before him in our affections, and from which (or whom) we have sought “life,” rather than from God. 1 John 5:21

-Disobeyed some clear command of God, or ignored some warning: Proverbs 1:23-33.

-Dishonored or despised some member of the Body of Christ, and thus the Spirit of God himself: 1 Corinthians 11:27-33.

-Harbored resentment against anyone who has hurt us: Matthew 6:14-15; Ephesians 4:26, 32.

-Sought anything more than the kingdom of God: Matthew 6:33.

-Set our minds too much on earthly things, rather than on things above: Colossians 3:1-3.

When he shows us our sin(s), then we should ask forgiveness, receive it by faith, and move forward to serve God, rejoicing in our hope of eternal life, knowing that his love for us was demonstrated once for all on the Cross of Christ: 1 John 1:9; Romans 5:1-5, 8.