[Jesus] 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.

 

Have you ever experienced pain so sharply you felt you’d disintegrate under its power?

After losing his wife, writer C.S. Lewis described the moments of grief that made him feel as if he was an ant walking past the entrance to a furnace.[1] Anyone who’s experienced loss knows its debilitating power. Every bit of so-called commonsense sayings that people get over things—like “life moves on,” vanish in those agonizing moments.

In grief, the first truth God wants you to know is that you are not alone. Jesus was described as “a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus lived as a human just as you and I do, grieving death, witnessing the toll of disease, and all the brokenness that comes with human existence. As God, Jesus has witnessed all suffering and felt its pangs as He longed for our redemption. Jesus has truly experienced all the pain our frames can experience.

To realize we don’t have to be alone but can, in fact, be with the One who the Bible says, comforts those who mourn, is only the beginning (Matthew 5:4). Jesus resurrected from death, conquering it and overcoming the power that sin has over us to give us hope beyond today’s burdens. The Bible says in Revelation 21:4, “[Jesus] 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.”

Your grief may feel as consuming as a raging furnace. But today is not the end of the story. Call out to Jesus. He is very near to you today in whatever loss you face.

[1] Lewis, C.S. A Grief Observed. Harper One, 2015, pp. 15-16.