When Grief Comes, Is God Still Good?

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5

Some say grief is horror at loss…at not being able to touch them, laugh with them, or make new memories with them. Others may say it is soul-crushing…excruciating…and it makes eternity feel instantaneously close… yet so far away. For me, it is all of this on top of the what-ifs and what-could-have-beens rolled into one.

In the "Seventh of June" song, I wanted to be transparent about the process of grief…how it comes in waves and on anniversaries…how it spills out in tears. We are all in the trenches at times - “praying and trying to make sense of what don’t make sense in this life.” We are all put on notice, waiting for the impossible moment that we never want to face. But we all face loss. We are not getting off of this earth without it.

Grieving people ask themselves: Did they know how much I loved them? What should I have done differently? It can be heavy and full of despair, yet empty of adding up to make sense. How could this have happened? Why did this happen? And the ones no one likes to talk about: Is God still good? And where is God in the midst of our grief?

Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount: Blessed are the broken-hearted for they shall be comforted…but ask a new mother holding her stillborn baby if she feels blessed. Ask anyone at the edge of a hospice bed if they feel blessed.

I have learned that the blessing is having Jesus to weep with you. To hold you. To give you supernatural peace that only He can give. At my lowest times and my darkest days, the Prince of Peace is there to encourage me and to catch my tears. I want to remind you that He is good and promises us that weeping endures for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

Here are some questions to ponder as you process your grief with the Lord:

• Is God responsible for our loss?
• There must be a reason we have a period on earth to experience truth, beauty, and goodness but also deception, ugliness, and evil. What could God’s purposes be?