How can I help others who are grieving? - Grief - TouchPoints

Proverbs 25:20Singing cheerful songs to a person with a heavy heart is like taking someone’s coat in cold weather or pouring vinegar in a wound.

Psalm 69:20Their insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. If only one person would show some pity; if only one would turn and comfort me.

Give your attention, sympathy, and comfort to the grieving. Pretending that the pain is not there is like rubbing salt in a wound. It is difficult to be with someone who is grieving, but you don’t need to come up with the right words to make it all go away. You can’t. Your concern and presence will help a grieving person more than words.

Proverbs 17:22A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.

Be aware of the toll that being brokenhearted takes on a person’s spirit, mind, and body. Awareness leads to sympathy; sympathy leads to soothing the wounded, and that leads to healing.

Romans 12:15Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.

Sensitivity to others’ feelings is needed. You can feel others’ sorrow as surely as you can feel their joy. Being too cheery when others are grieving will only make them feel worse.

1 Peter 5:12I have written and sent this short letter to you with the help of Silas, whom I commend to you as a faithful brother. My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace.

Encourage the brokenhearted. Words of comfort can lift a hurting person.

Job 21:34“How can your empty clichés comfort me?”

Job 16:2“I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are!”

Be careful with the words you use with those who are grieving. Explanations and clichés are rarely comforting. Love, sympathy, and the power of your presence are urgently needed. Sometimes the best comfort you can give is to just be there.

Job 42:11Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring.

Psalm 68:6God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.

As family and friends, you can support one another. Family life must be a safe haven from a wounding world.