"The Lord is near to the brokenhearted" Psalm 34:18
"Good Grief!" Can you hear Charlie saying this? Or can you hear someone say, "Good Grief Charlie Brown!" Both of these statements speak about grief and let-down. Grief is real and grief can be overwhelming. Yet, there is hope when we are in this situation - and it comes from God.
I love this verse written above about the Lord being near. That is wonderful, because at some point in our lives we will be grieving. The loss of a pet, the pain of a relationship, and even the feeling of loneliness. Grief hurts, but we feel a sense of inefficiency. The Bible speaks often and significantly to the grief we all experience. Psalm 34:18 says “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 147:3 continues “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
Yes there are times of great pain and huge life circumstances. But here is good news for all of us. We tend to only apply these, and other verses, when there is a huge, life altering event like the loss of a family member or some special person. But I must admit, those verses comfort me often.
Hurt is real and hurt lingers for a while, and because of our hopelessness we are looking for something strong, helpful and even practical. What has been lost was important and significant, and we need something to compensate.
One of the great comforts is to know that God never changes and He will never leave us or forsake us. It is ok to feel sadness, but just remember - God is there. A great reminder I once heard about grief came from a movie. "You have two choices right now in your grief. You can either be mad and sulky about what you don't have and have lost - or you can cherish what you did have and where it came from." The key point here is this, more than likely what I was grieving about was not even something I deserved.
