Day 3: Sorrow Is Holy Ground.

Any parent will tell you that it’s heartbreaking to listen to the cries of your child. Parents are hardwired to take care of their kids. Their pain awakens compassion, even if their “pain” is just a stubborn refusal to close their eyes and go to sleep.

In the same way, our pain resonates in the heart of God. He always cares, and he is always close. He’s not some aloof taskmaster in the sky who only cares about how much we get done or whether we’ve sinned today.

He cares about us. He understands what we are going through. He shares our emotions.

The Bible frequently talks about how God “hears our cries” or “sees our suffering.” The little deaths we go through move the heart of God. We are infinitely valuable to him, so he shares our pain. Even if it’s a relatively small loss in the eyes of other people — maybe you were passed over for a promotion, or your car was broken into, or you received a rejection letter from a publisher, or a family pet died — these death experiences are important to God.

Before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he first met with the dead man’s sisters, Martha and Mary. They were brokenhearted, of course. Even angry. You can hear it in their voices in John 11. At one point, when Jesus saw the grief of Mary and the others, he was overcome with compassion and began to weep.

Do you realize how much that says about God’s heart? Jesus knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead — and he still wept. Their pain mattered to him. He didn’t ignore the loss; he validated it. He sat with them in their suffering, and he shared their tears.

Why would our tears matter to God?

It’s simple. Because we matter to God. And not just our productivity, or our holiness, or our generosity. In his eyes, your pain is precious. Your grief is holy. Your loss is sacred.

So, when death strikes, don’t be in a hurry to stifle your grief. Don’t gaslight yourself into silence. Don’t gloss over your loss in the name of faith or strength. Let yourself “feel all the feels” for as long as you need, because your death moments are precious in the sight of the Lord.