10 Bible Passages About Grief

Though it is a natural part of life, we don’t like grief, and it can make us and others around us feel awkward and uncomfortable. Still, everyone will face occasions for grief since loss comes in many forms: the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job or an opportunity, the loss of a relationship, the loss of physical abilities associated with aging or illness, and even moving which involves the losses of neighborhood, community, and associations such as your church or gardening club.

10 Helpful Bible Passages about Grief

The Bible offers a forthright approach to grief and can provide tremendous comfort for those who grieve. The Bible can also give you words for comforting others in their times of grief. Below are ten Bible passages about grief.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, … a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance… – Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, 4

You will have experiences common to everyone, such as birth and death, planting and harvesting, weeping, and laughing, mourning, and dancing. You can probably fill in the blanks with times and seasons of your own, like working and resting, sleeping, and rising, learning, and teaching, parenting, and grandparenting.

Each of these activities may also present the risk of grief that comes with the inherent risks involved with loving others. However, the circle will keep turning, and times and seasons will change. You can take comfort in the knowledge that others understand what you’re going through, and that you will not actively mourn forever.

Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief. – Psalm 31:9

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. – Psalm 34:18

These two verses from Psalms come at grief from different angles. The first is a prayer, describing the Psalmist’s feelings of grief – distress, aches in body and soul – and invoking the Lord’s mercy. You can bring all your experiences, and all your thoughts and feelings about your experiences, straight to God.

He knows what you’re going through and will comfort you in His mercy. The second verse is a promise that demonstrates the Lord’s mercy: He will be close to you and save you when you feel brokenhearted and spirit-crushed. Even when you feel alone, you will never be truly alone.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. – Matthew 5:4

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. – Romans 12:15

Again, these two New Testament verses work in tandem. In Matthew’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus promises that those who mourn will be comforted. God will comfort those who grieve, and the responsibility to offer comfort rests squarely on the shoulders of fellow believers, as Paul states in Romans.

Contrary to the individualistic society in which we live, those who follow Jesus should seek to be connected through a strong web of support. Rejoicing with those who rejoice requires the humility to not compete with one another, and to celebrate others’ big wins instead joyfully. Mourning with those who mourn can be just as humbling, as we endure the occasionally uncomfortable ministry of presence to sit with and serve those in pain.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. – 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Isn’t it wonderful that Paul describes God as “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort”? Our compassionate God will never feel uncomfortable in the presence of your pain. Rather, God knows precisely what to do and say to offer you comfort in whatever troubles you face. Then, when you have received comfort straight from God and have taken the necessary time to heal from your grief, you will be able to comfort others.

You will have gained knowledge and wisdom from your grief experience and from the experience of receiving God’s comfort. Realize that receiving comfort from God comes as both an opportunity and a responsibility: what you have received is not for you alone but for you to share when an opportunity arises to comfort someone else.

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. – James 4:8-10

James reminds us that sometimes grief should be the most appropriate response to sin. If sin seems to be no big deal, laughable even, and perhaps you’re feeling prideful about having gotten away with something, then it’s time to dive deep into grief. Come near to God. God will also come near to you, and you’ll appropriately recognize a) God’s holiness and b) sin’s unworthiness.

The liturgical church has established regular opportunities to address the grief-inducing effects of sin, such as a prayer of confession during Sunday worship, a longer time of reflection and confession before approaching the Lord’s Table to receive communion, Ash Wednesday, and Lent, during which many take on a spiritual practice or give up something to more closely identify with the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross to pay for sins.

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. – Isaiah 53:3

Jesus wept. – John 11:35

One of the great comforts of the good news of the gospel is that Jesus understands what we’re going through. Because Jesus – the Son of God – was God Himself in human flesh, He fully gets what it’s like to be human. To grow and learn, to love and lose, to hurt in body and spirit, Jesus experienced it all.

Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be so familiar with pain that “man of suffering” would be an adequate description of His character and life experience. Ouch! Most of us would prefer a different moniker, wouldn’t you agree?

Yet we see throughout the Gospel narratives how Jesus was repeatedly despised and rejected by those He came to love and lead to God. He healed people of sins and diseases and asked them not to spread the word; when they disobeyed, the spreading news prevented Jesus from entering various towns. While many people revered Him, those who arguably should have been most able to recognize His God-likeness, the Jewish religious leaders, actively worked against Him to bring about His crucifixion.

John 3:16-17 tells us that Jesus took on human flesh specifically because of God’s character of love. We see evidence of God’s love coursing through Jesus in His compassion, His patient teaching, His insistence on love for God, neighbor, and self, and in His relationships with those closest to Him. Jesus loved His friend Lazarus, and Jesus cried when His friend died.

While Jesus certainly experienced grief over other losses, the Bible gives us a gift in this picture of Jesus mourning His friend’s death. As you grieve the loss of loved ones, be encouraged that Jesus knows exactly what that type of grief feels like.

‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. – Revelation 21:4

In the book of Revelation, John offers glimpses of what we might expect at the end of time. When heaven and earth as we understand them pass away and Jesus comes to establish His eternal reign, He will also do away with all the anguish we have endured in this life.

Can you imagine Jesus wiping the tears of grief from your eyes? How many tears have you cried, and how many more might you still cry? Jesus will wipe every tear from every eye. Death, mourning, crying, and pain will cease forever because, in God’s timing, they are part of “the old order of things” that will end. Instead, we can expect to have an eternity filled with life, celebration, joy, and strength, something worth our anticipation.

Christian Counseling for Grief

If you’re looking for additional support beyond these verses about grief in the Bible, feel free to contact me or one of the other counselors in the online counselor directory. We would be happy to meet with you to discuss practical techniques for handling grief from a Christian perspective.