Bible Verses for Grief and Loss.
Grief is what love feels like after a loss. The Bible does not rush it. Jesus stood at his friend's tomb and wept, even knowing he was about to raise him.
Christians grieve, but not without hope. These verses give you room to mourn, the promise that God is near in it, and the hope that death does not have the last word.
Room to mourn
Sorrow is not a lack of faith.
John 11:33-35
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
Psalm 6:6
I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.
Matthew 5:4
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
God is near
He holds the brokenhearted and keeps every tear.
Psalm 34:18
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 56:8
You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Psalm 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Hope beyond death
In Christ, goodbye is not forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Revelation 21:4
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
1 Corinthians 15:54-55
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Some people find it helps to write. What do you miss most today, and what would you want to say to God about it? A private journal is there if you want one.
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Scripture quotations are from the ESV(R) Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version(R)), copyright (c) 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.