Where Is God in This?Sýnishorn

We fear loss because we view death through one lens—­ours. We don’t view it through Jesus’s lens, which is gain. For all we know, heaven is as complex and dynamic as the earth is, minus all the crap that hurts. Loss hurts. There’s no way around that. We miss the people and the relationships that are no longer immediately within our grasp.

But there is hope. If that weren’t true, Jesus wouldn’t have said it was. Through him, we have access to an afterlife that far exceeds our expectations. Paul said, “For me, life finds all its meaning in Christ.” But “death also has its benefits” (Phil. 1:21). When people die, it’s OK to cry. It’s OK to be angry. It’s OK to raise your fist and tell God it isn’t fair. Jesus understands. Remember, Jesus wept when he saw Lazarus’s sisters and the other mourners grieving his passing (John 11:35). I believe Jesus’s tears had more to do with how sad he felt for the onlookers. He knew he was about to raise Lazarus back to life. He wasn’t crying for the loss, but for the pain, it had caused his loved ones.

Jesus had compassion for Lazarus’s loved ones. True, no death is outside of God’s permission. And Jesus delayed coming to Lazarus and healing him before he died. But that doesn’t mean Jesus didn’t care. That doesn’t mean he reacted to Lazarus’s sickness casually.

Lamentations 3:33 says, “He doesn’t want to bring pain or suffering to anyone.” Sometimes the plans of God require momentary discomfort or pain (suffering) to bring about the bigger miracle.

But our suffering doesn’t bring him joy. No, Jesus shares in our pain. When we cry, he cries with us.

We’ll probably never not fear loss. At least I won’t. I embrace that dread as a sign that I’m blessed enough to love people I’d be devastated to lose. But I also won’t allow that fear to make me suffer. Instead, I try to view death and loss through Jesus’s lens. There’s a lot I don’t understand about it, but I do know this: death is not the end if we have hope in Jesus as our Savior; it’s the beginning of life as God meant for us to know it.

Ask God to meet you in your loss. Remember, God shares in our pain and is always with us.