4 Key Bible Verses to Help With Grief

I’ve experienced the loss of parents, good friends, and a husband. In each, I grieved differently because the loss was different. The circumstances were different, and I was different. Today, if you are a griever, I offer thoughts to ponder. If you are a friend, perhaps this will give you a window into grief.

Cry

It’s alright, more than alright, to cry. Jesus wept at the news of Lazarus. Jesus is described as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. (Is. 53:3)

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. (Psalm 56:8 NLT)

Pray

Perhaps you can't think straight and only offer a one sentence prayer in your pain. Prayer is not only asking or speaking but sitting and soaking in the presence of God. Pray to receive and hear His words to you.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18 NIV)

Trust

Trust His plan and heart for you. He loves you with an everlasting love.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lam. 3: 22-23 ESV)

Give Grace

What? Give grace when you need grace”. Yes. God gives grace because He promises it and He keeps His promises. But in our times of grief, when we are at our lowest, we will have opportunities to give grace.

Praise be to 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 receive from God. (2 Corinthians 1: 3-4 NIV)

“But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.’” Luke 13:14 NKJV

Why The Leaders Were So Mad

Cheater! Cheater! Jesus upstaged the ruler of the synagogue when He healed a crippled lady. Why else would he be mad that someone got healed? That’s what the synagogue leader was really saying. UNFAIR! The only way the synagogue ruler could think of to fix this was to call Jesus a rule breaker.

Just Another Day of Rule Keeping

Luke says this woman was suffering from a “disabling spirit.” When did this poor woman ever get to fully take the day of rest God provided for her? The Jews took the Sabbath so seriously they created all kinds of rules about what it means to rest. Their day of rest turned out to be another day of rule keeping, which is work! They loved rules more than people.

There are two metaphors Jesus uses. The first is a picture of the Pharisees strapping heavy burdens to those they lead. But the thing is, the leaders would never put their shoulders into the kind of work they laid on others.

The other metaphor Jesus uses is of the narrow road versus the wide road. The narrow leads to eternal life while the wide to destruction. This narrow road metaphor is the one the modern church uses to identify us. But, in an attempt to keep people on the straight and narrow, sometimes, in the spirit of the Pharisee strapping heavy loads on people, we make the path narrower than Jesus intended.

Jesus is Available to All

When representing Jesus, we need to remember that He wants there to be as much access to Him as possible. We can’t make rules to block or limit access to the One that heals.

She came up behind him and touched the hem of his clothes, and at once her bleeding stopped. Luke 8:47 CEB

The Bleeding Woman

I love reading about miracles Jesus performed during His ministry on Earth. In the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, in between the accounts of Him freeing a demon-possessed man and raising a twelve-year-old girl back to life, we can find the story of Him healing a woman with an "issue of blood." And wow, what an issue it was! She endured twelve years of physical pain, being ostracized, and unsuccessfully seeking healing from countless doctors.

All three of the Gospel accounts record the facts that she touched the hem of His garment, she was instantly healed, and that Jesus told her that her faith had made her well.

Why Did Jesus Ask "Who Touched Me?"

Two of the three Gospels include another intriguing detail: When Jesus felt power leave His body, He asked, “Who touched me?” Of course, He knew who touched Him; He knew everything! Why did He ask that question aloud and await a verbal response?

Jesus could have continued on His journey, and He and the woman could have kept a special secret between them. He had places to go and people to heal. However, He took the time to ask the question.

When she responded, the crowd witnessed the fact that Jesus desired to bring wholeness to a desperate woman. They saw that she mattered to Him. Her importance to Jesus superseded His schedule and social norms.

You Matter to Jesus

You matter to Jesus too. Has anyone told you that lately?

Prayer

Thank You, Jesus, for who You are. Thank You for loving us and for Your desire to bring healing and make us whole. Help us have the faith it takes to reach out to You. Amen.

David is said to be a man after God’s own heart. That’s quite a nickname. I look at the Psalms he wrote and I love how David pours his heart out to the Lord. He let the Lord speak through him. God used him mightily, but David was not perfect. We know about the big mistakes David made: adultery, murder- but did David ever get in a ‘funk’? I am sure he did, because we all do. David specifically talks about feeling a distance from the Lord:

“As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before Him?" Psalm 42:1-2 NLT

If a man after God’s own heart can find himself feeling a distance from the Lord, then certainly we will at some point in our lives. The more crucial question is, “How do I get out of the funk, once I am here?”

I’m not here because I desire to be here. I am here because of my own action, or sometimes, inaction. It’s no one’s fault but my own. I haven’t carved out the time to spend with my Savior. I haven’t pursued Him. I have been complacent. I have placed the distance there myself.

I hate it. But how do I get out?

I’m thirsty and I don’t even realize it. I’m starving myself, but stupidly can’t figure out why or how. Do you do that? Find yourself feeling a distance from the Lord but don’t know why? Time after time, I end up here, even after vowing not to be.

Oh my flesh, you are my enemy. My selfish, selfish nature, you have won again. But just as the night came, so will the day. The cycle continues, the battle with my sin. The fight with distance.

Are you sure God is with you? Maybe you have been disappointed with God and have built a great big wall. You no longer feel his presence, so you wonder - will God become frustrated with me in my stubbornness and abandon me?

Back in September, I was disappointed with God. It stemmed from a significant loss which I knew He could have prevented but didn’t. I erected a mighty BIG wall to keep him at a distance. My faith stood firm, but the feelings of His undeniable presence were gone.

Step by step, I had been inching my way back into the arms of God while trying hard to rekindle the feelings of His nearness.

"This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 New Living Translation (NLT)

God Never Moved

Oh, I know God never moved; it was me. I stomped my feet and allowed a wall to go up. He didn’t do things the way I had expected nor desired, and I responded in a way which put distance between us.

However, never once did I doubt He was near. Never once was my faith in jeopardy. After all, God and I have a relationship built on Trust covered with Faith, Hope, and Love.

Are you in a place where you don't feel God's presence?

How to Know God Is with You
1. Go to His word and take in the truth.

2. Remember those “God Moments” when His presence was undeniable. Write them down so you can pull them back out in times when you can’t feel his closeness.

Yes, I did make it to the airport unharmed with a new song in my heart and that old familiar feeling of the Lord's presence deep in my being. If you are not feeling near to God, I would love to pray for you. Please leave me a comment.

Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44 NLT


The Widows Gift

Do you ever feel like you have nothing to offer?

I can only imagine how the widow felt that day in the Temple, watching the others pass by on their way to the collection box, dressed in their luxurious clothes. As she watched them donate large sums of money to the Temple funds, making sure everyone noticed their generosity, I wouldn't be surprised if the widow felt embarrassed and inadequate.

But instead, she chose to offer what she had.

Quietly she dropped in her two little coins and went on her way - no fuss, no song and dance. It seemed that her offering went unnoticed, and I'm sure she would have preferred it that way.

But Jesus saw, and God sees the heart!

I wonder if she ever found out what He said to his disciples afterwards or how He honored her gift.

Because not only did Jesus see, but He knew.

He knew the struggles she faced - the pain of losing her husband and the extent of her poverty. He knew exactly how much her tiny gift had cost her.

He sees our little offerings and he values them, and the impact can be greater than we'll ever know.

So then, my friends, because of God's great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. (Romans 12:1 GNT)

What I Wanted

The prayers for my children were typical of so many from affluent nations. I really didn’t think that much about it. I mean I WAS praying so wasn’t that what I was supposed to do as a mom?
“God bless my kids. Help them……… Keep them……….. Protect them……… Give them…………”
Basically, I was praying for God to make life easy for them.

Who am I kidding? Let’s be honest! Ultimately, I was asking for myself as well because when the kids are happy, so is Mom.

Maybe I should examine further how the content of my prayers for my kids compared to Biblical examples.

What the Disciples Wanted

The first time I was convicted over prayer as a mom came from this passage. Acts 4:23-31 describes a scene after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection whereby the leaders who put Jesus to death were now threatening the disciples. Having recently abandoned Jesus when He was in the midst of His experience, it is riveting to see how differently the disciples handle it this go around.

31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Are these even the same men?!? Yes and glory to God for that!!

Notice how they handled the threat against them. It is shocking! These men who were fearful and cowering just weeks before were now asking for boldness!

My kids were not being served well by a mom asking for their protection as much as a mom asking God for their power to overcome!

The prayer for my children, as a Christian mother, is that they make a powerful difference for the name of Jesus!

He IS their greatest need, just as much as He is mine as their mother. I think what I learned is that as much as I may want God to bless them, I want THEM to be a blessing to God as well!

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, *said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. John 19:28-30 NASB

Satan Rejoiced

The day was shrouded in darkness. All evil had been placed upon Jesus and He hung, pierced, on the cross. The Father, the Holy One, God of Israel - could not bear to look upon His Beloved Son; He had to turn away, and as He left the Temple those many years ago, so He left again.

The Blood Sacrifice

The Father, after turning from Jesus, rent His garment - the veil in the Temple tore from top to bottom. The buildings shook; the pain of what His Son had willingly endured pierced His heart. He and the Son were no longer One. The sin that Jesus willingly took upon Himself insured that. Jesus willingly agreed to this torture. Who else, but a loving, adoring Son, would leave His throne in Heaven to fight the most fearsome battle of the ages. It started with the blood, the pure blood of an innocent sacrifice who willingly took the shame and pain and very darkness itself upon Himself.

The Father Knew It Is Finished

The Father smiled to Himself. The usurper had forgotten He knew everything. And as He smiled, the Father thought, "he will doubt. When I receive My Son back, he will doubt, he will fear, and he will be more dangerous in his tactics." Then the Father looked from the hill of Calvary into eternity future, to the final end of this one-dimension of time, the one that held humanity, the one holding His Son captive, and He smiled. He and His Son, along with all the children His Son gained because of the Great Sacrifice, would soon be united.

The list included lust, idolatry, drunkenness, sexual immorality and a complaining attitude. This previous list building itself into verse 12 reveals a rather disturbing truth of our hearts: we can justify just about anything. We can be living in (not even struggling with, but living in) any of the sins Paul listed and still believe we are in right standing!

I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by your laws. I cling to your decrees. LORD, don’t let me be put to shame! If you will help me, I will run to follow your commands. Psalm 119:30-32Life is about choices. We choose every day how we are going to live. We choose whether or not we are going to serve the Lord and to what degree we are going to do it. We choose whether or not we are going to trust the Lord and to what extent. We choose whether or not we are going to take seriously our relationship with the Lord or play games with Him.We make choices and then we exercise our wills. The more determined we are, the more likely we are to live out our choices. If we determine in our hearts to follow the Lord and obey him, He will help us to do it. There is no shame in stumbling if we are trying. We do fail to do all that we should do in our walk with the Lord, but it’s okay as long as we are trying to be faithful. The Lord understands and forgives.We make choices, and then we live with our choices. Our lives are the fruit of our choices and reflect the condition of our hearts. The Lord judges the heart and will not look away from the heart that chooses to disobey Him. We choose every day whom we will serve that day. Who have you chosen to serve? Is it obvious to others by the way you talk and act?