Where is God while I sit in the ashes?
Near. Yahweh is near to the brokenhearted, the coming Servant carried sorrow Himself, and at a funeral procession in Nain Jesus felt compassion before He said a word. And when grief strips you of prayer entirely, the Spirit Himself intercedes with groanings too deep for language.
This question arose from studying Is it wrong to keep grieving? Should faith make it stop?.
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Not a summary of these passages: the passages themselves. Read them, then come back to the study below.
The study
What the Scripture says
Nearness is God's address for the crushed
Psalm 34 does not promise the brokenhearted a quick fix; it promises company: 'Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.' Nearness comes first, rescue second, and the order matters. The first thing God gives a crushed person is Himself.
Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.
The Son walked this road before you
Isaiah saw it seven centuries out: despised, rejected, 'a man of suffering'. Then the turn: 'Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering'. Your grief is not foreign territory to your Savior; He carried sorrow long enough to know its weight by feel.
He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him. Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
Compassion came before the miracle
At Nain, Jesus meets a widow burying her only son. Luke records what moved Him first: 'he had compassion on her'. Only then does He speak, touch the coffin, and hand the young man back to his mother alive. When you wonder where God is in grief, this scene answers: close enough to feel it first, acting even before you ask.
When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, “Don’t cry.” He came near and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” He who was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.
When grief steals your words, the Spirit prays
Mourning often makes prayer impossible; you sit silent because language is gone. Paul says the Spirit covers exactly this case: 'we don't know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can't be uttered.' Silence before God is not absence from God; the groaning itself is prayer.
In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.
As you read, you may wonder…
Scripture raises the next question
Studying the Word naturally opens more of it. Follow what you just read: it leads somewhere.
Continue this trail
What happened to the person I love, the moment they died?→“Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.””Did anyone enter heaven before Jesus rose?→“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”Will I actually see them again, or just know they're safe?→“After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God, Whom I, even I, shall see on my side. My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.”How do I carry sorrow and hope in the same life?→“It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”What do I say to someone who just lost someone?→“So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.”It has been months. Why is my grief not getting easier?→“How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”Explore further
Does God really hear my prayers?→Prayer trail“This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.”Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.
Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.
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