Bible Verses About Grief

“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”

Grief can feel like exile from God. This verse says the opposite is true: the broken heart is where He draws nearest.

“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”

Jesus puts mourners on the blessing list. Comfort is promised to them as a certainty, not a possibility.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

The end of the story. Death and sorrow are former things, and the tear-wiping is done personally by God.

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

God is called the God of all comfort, and comfort received is described as something you will one day hand to someone else.

“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

Spoken to a grieving sister at her brother’s tomb. Jesus does not offer Martha a concept; He offers Himself.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

The valley is walked through, not around, and not alone. The shepherd’s presence is the comfort.

“For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

An honest timeline: the weeping is real and may last the whole night. But the night is not the end of the story.

“Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?”

Not one tear is anonymous to God. He counts, keeps, and records them, which means your grief is seen in full.

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”

The Savior is described as acquainted with grief. Whatever you are carrying, He has carried it first and carries it with you.

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”

Believers are not told to skip sorrow, only that theirs comes with hope attached. The resurrection changes the grammar of grief.

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Spoken the night before the cross to men about to lose Him. The comfort offered is a prepared place and a promised reunion.

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

The death of someone who belongs to God is not a small thing to Him. What you lost, He counts precious.