Can You Just Sit With Me? Sitting With God in GriefНамуна

Sitting with the God Who Understands

Grief is part of the human experience. At some point in our lives, we will grieve over someone or something. We grieve many things in our lifetime. Grief is the natural response to loss. Yet, no two people will grieve the same or respond to the same loss in the same way, and it may feel as if no one understands.

I remember feeling this way as a sophomore in college when my sister Angie died. The fact that no one in my peer group had experienced the loss of an immediate family member left me feeling misunderstood and alone. At this point in my grief journey, I had already experienced multiple losses that compounded with this one.

Let me pause to ask, What are you grieving? What is the loss that brings you here today? Know that you are not alone in your grief. I am sitting with you and God is sitting with us.

God understands what we are going through, have been through, or will ever face. Think of the very vastness of God: he is the God who is, was, and who is to come (Revelation 1:8). He experienced everything we could ever experience literally from A to Z.

The apostle Paul wrote, “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15 KJV).

Jesus knows and understands our grief. He is a man of sorrows and he is acquainted with grief. In his humanity, Jesus wept. A dear friend of Jesus, Lazarus, was sick. Jesus heard this news, and instead of going to see him, he remained where he was for a few more days. And Lazarus died. As described by John, Jesus was “deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (John 11:33 NIV). Then the story goes on to say, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35 NIV).

When Jesus heard about the death of John the Baptist, he grieved. Then in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus grieved over his purpose. He was the lamb slain from the foundations of the earth. He knew his purpose, and it still grieved him.

Just as Jesus grieved, he understands that all people grieve, and he understands your grief.