How does God respond to my grieving?

Psalm 10:17Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.

Psalm 34:18The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

Psalm 119:76Now let your unfailing love comfort me, just as you promised me, your servant.

Psalm 147:3He [the Lord] heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.

Isaiah 51:12“I [the Lord], yes I, am the one who comforts you. So why are you afraid of mere humans, who wither like the grass and disappear?”

Lamentations 3:32Though he [the Lord] brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love.

Matthew 5:4“God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Over and over, the Bible emphasizes God’s special compassion for those who grieve. He comforts the brokenhearted by his presence, his listening, his love, his healing, his encouragement, and his blessings.

Isaiah 53:4It was our weaknesses he [the Messiah] carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.

Romans 6:6We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

Hebrews 2:14Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.

God does not merely offer us sympathy from a distance. He doesn’t sit idly by while sin and death cause incredible grief and pain on earth. Instead, he came down among us and experienced the same griefs we do—the loss of loved ones, rejection and abandonment by close friends, public humiliation, and worse. And through his suffering, he bought us freedom from death, freedom from sin, and eternal life with himself.

2 Peter 3:9The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

Sometimes it feels as though Jesus is waiting too long to return, but even that is meant to spare us grief. God wants to offer every tribe, people, and nation a chance to know him and receive him—his delay is not out of inaction, but out of patience and love.

Romans 12:15Mourn with those who mourn.

1 Corinthians 12:27All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

2 Corinthians 7:6God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus.

God works through the church, his hands and feet here on earth, to comfort us in our grieving.