Topic: Six Ways God Helps You Grieve [RICK WARREN Devotional 1 May 2023]
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Six Ways God Helps You Grieve
BY RICK WARREN — MAY 1, 2023
FROM THE KEYS TO A BLESSED LIFE
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed.”
Psalm 34:18 (NCV)
You don’t get over a loss. You can’t go under it; you can’t go around it. You’ve got to go through the grief. And if you’re scared to express emotion and refuse to go through it, that’s where you get stuck.
You get unstuck by letting God help you. Here are six ways God blesses a broken heart.
1. God draws you close to himself.
Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed” (NCV). When you grieve, God is not a million miles away, even though it may feel like it. In fact, he’s never been any closer.
2. God grieves with you.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was “a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (Isaiah 53:3 NLT). When you come to Jesus with your grief, he knows what you’re talking about, and he understands your pain. God is not apathetic. He is sympathetic, and he grieves with you.
3. God gives you a church family for support.
We’re meant to grieve and heal in community. We’re better together! The Bible says, “In Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others . . . Be devoted to one another in love . . . Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:5, 10, 15 NIV).
4. God uses grief to help you grow.
God uses grief and even pain to help you become more like Christ, and he does it in three ways:God uses pain to get your attention (Romans 5:3-5), he brings good out of bad (Romans 8:28), and he prepares you for eternity (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).
5. God gives you the hope of heaven.
Your life on this Earth is short, but if you trust Jesus Christ for your salvation, then you have the hope of spending eternity in heaven with God. That hope will sustain you through your time of loss. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “We don’t want you to be ignorant about those who have died. We don’t want you to grieve like other people who have no hope” (GW).
6. God uses your pain to help others.
This is called redemptive pain, and it is the highest and best use of the pain you go through. God does not want you to waste a hurt. “[God] 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 1:4 NLT).
Talk It Over
- Why do you think God allows us to experience grief and loss?
- How does God want you to minister to others who grieve without hope?
- What is the deepest pain you have experienced? In what ways can you use that pain to help others?
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