Comforting Bible Verses in Times of Loss

🎧 Listen to this article

In our spinning world full of gifts and beauty, there is much loss and pain. All we have to do is turn on the news, stretch our aching muscles, or step outside to find it. For some, the pain of loss isn’t visible to others but is present within; an inward sadness from the loss of life, a relationship, or an opportunity.

Losing someone or something that is important to us can be tough. Words can’t truly describe the distress that touches our lives when this happens, but there is a place to go when we experience the misery that won’t budge from its burrowed space in our hearts.

Bible verses can bring comfort in times of loss. They give us a rich variety of valley and mountaintop moments. The verses below can provide us with hope when it’s difficult to remember what hope looks like.

Scriptures for Loss

• God sends help in devastating times (Genesis 47).
• God will not leave us to do life alone (John 14:16-20).
• God will not let hard times be in vain (1 Peter 4:12-13).
• God is present in our sorrows (Psalm 22:24, Psalm 34:18).
• God is preparing a sorrowless home for us (1 Peter 1:4, Revelation 21:4).
• God wants us to be tender and sympathetic toward one another (1 Peter 3:8).
• God works through others to lift burdens and bring cheer (Philippians 2, 2 Corinthians 1).

In hard times, it’s a struggle to see beyond the present trouble, but reading the outcome of a Bible story can comfort us by showing us a bigger picture. Ruth 1:21 is powerful.

Naomi says, “I went out full and the Lord has brought me home empty…the Lord has turned his back on me and sent such calamity!” Naomi’s honest lament in front of her daughter-in-law, Ruth, was wrought with bitterness over her struggle with her husband and sons’ death – but rightfully so.

Naomi’s story did not end there. A chapter later (Ruth 2:20), Naomi was already saying something quite different. “…God has continued his kindness to us…” What’s impossible for us to overcome is not impossible for God.

If you’ve experienced the loss of loved ones, the book of Job can also be of comfort. It’s good to see both sides of things; not only the valley—not only the mountaintop. We’re reminded God is with us in both times, and that mourning is healthy and necessary.

We read in Job 6:2-3, “Oh, that my sadness and troubles were weighed. For they are heavier than the sand of a thousand seashores.”

At the very beginning of the book, Job saw back-to-back trouble; a complete disaster of his life. In one fell swoop, he lost animals and property, family members, and then his own good health. His wife even mouthed off about his faithfulness to God after all this happened, but I wonder if she was nearby when he was uttering what would become chapters 6 and 7. His cries sound a lot like pages torn from a journal; the journal of someone hurting and not afraid to be real about it.

In chapters 29 and 30, Job continues to mourn. He says, “The voice of joy and gladness has turned to mourning.”

Job 42:12 says, “So the Lord blessed Job at the end of his life more than at the beginning.” We don’t always know the reasons for why things happen to us or those we know, but for Job, his story did not end in the lowest dip of his life. Even so, he couldn’t skip over the hard parts—yet God never left his side, though it felt like it at times. God was there to listen to Job’s frustrations. He really is the best friend we could ever have.

But what if one of our earthly friends hurts us? This can be a form of loss too. In Psalms 55:21, David seems to express anguish for the loss of a friendship. “This friend of mine betrayed me—I who was at peace with him. He broke his promises. His words were oily smooth, but in his heart was war. His words were sweet, but underneath were daggers.”

In verse 22, David says to himself, “Give your burdens to the Lord. He will carry them.” Then as if looking up after this truth-injected self-talk, he says in verse 23, “But I am trusting you to save me.”

Loss can leave us weary and feeling battered, but our sorrows are seen. It’s important to not bottle up the pain. It’s also equally important to remind ourselves God will be there for us and can be trusted to help us when we feel like we can’t help ourselves. When we’ve lost a friendship, maybe even the one we’d generally lean on in the hard times, God is there.

2 Timothy 2:13 says, “Even when we are too weak to have any faith left, he remains faithful to us and will help us, for he cannot disown us who are part of himself, and he will always carry out his promises to us.”

Being honest about our pain and letting God’s word enter our minds during these times is a small stepping stone towards healing. Even when hope seems pebble-sized, God’s listening skills are strong and compassionate enough to withstand our heaviness.

He is a loving Father, ready to comfort us when loss sweeps us off our feet. We can tell him what we’ve experienced (even though he already knows). The telling helps us, not him.

Verses to Comfort in Times of Loss

The scriptures below are a great comfort. We can read them and know this current life is not all there is. Still, God does not ask us to ignore a loss or rush through healing. He is patient and longsuffering. His source of supply to strengthen and encourage is not limited. He is everywhere when our greatest confidants do not have that capability.

Romans 8:18-26 (The Living Bible) says

“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect his children. For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay—the things that overcame the world against its will at God’s command—will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God’s children enjoy.

For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us—bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.

We are saved by trusting. And trusting means looking forward to getting something we don’t yet have—for a man who already has something doesn’t need to hope and trust that he will get it. But if we must keep trusting God for something that hasn’t happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently.

And in the same way—by our faith—the Holy Spirit helps us with our daily problems and in our praying. For we don’t even know what we should pray for nor how to pray as we should, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with such feeling that it cannot be expressed in words.”

After experiencing a loss, we might feel like we need saving. Saving from our situations, saving from pain, or saving from ourselves. We don’t have to be in a certain place mentally or spiritually for God to come to our rescue. We now know that by reading the Word, God is close to those in deep agony; that he is willing and able to be our strength (Psalm 46:1-3).

Keep reading scripture to bring comfort during times of loss. Act as David did, writing and singing from pain to praise, as we know it’s like medicine for the soul.

Sometimes our praises will come later, but that’s okay, God knows our hearts (1 John 3:20).

Let’s lean into him. He will not leave us to mourn alone.