Someone once said grief is like wearing a cape made of lead. It’s with you all the time, and you can’t take it off. It affects everything you do - the way you move, your ability to laugh, the speed at which you can do tasks - it’s always there, weighing you down.
And just when you think you are getting back to normal, you feel the heaviness again. That seems about right. Grief is the backdrop to every conversation; it’s the shadow you can’t escape from. It sneaks into your best moments and reminds you of how fleeting life really is.
If you’ve ever experienced, or are experiencing, grief like this, then you know the feeling. And if you know the feeling, you know how hard it is to have hope after loss.
Just as grief is like a lead cape you are wearing, finding hope after loss is equally frustrating. Unlike the cape that’s always there, hope is the thing that seems just out of reach. You can see it, you know there are reasons for it, but no matter how far you reach out, you just can’t get there.
How, then, can you have hope when you are grieving?
Lean Into Your Grief
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
The first thing that sets you on the road to hope when you are grieving is leaning into the grief.
That means allowing yourself to really feel, express, and process the depth of your loss. Notice in the verses above that Paul doesn’t say grief is wrong - not at all. He doesn’t say that we shouldn’t grieve - he says that we should grieve differently.
Real hope is not the opposite of grief. In fact, this is one of the differences about Christians. It’s not that we don’t grieve, it’s that we experience grief with hope.
When we experience loss, we don’t try to talk ourselves out of feeling the full weight of that loss. Our hope comes from knowing that there is more than this life alone. Jesus will wipe away every tear someday, so despite how painful our circumstances might be, God is still in control and loves us immeasurably.
That’s how we can lean into grief, but do so with hope. Our hope is found in something bigger and more substantial than our circumstances.
Related Post: 7 Bible Verses for When You Feel Alone
Fuel Hope With Truth
When we acknowledge the real depth of our grief, we can also start to find hope through the truth of God’s Word. Though we acknowledge everything we are feeling, and acknowledge those feelings of grief and sadness are real, we can also acknowledge the truth we find in Scripture.
We can know, for example, that:
- God works all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28)
- Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:39)
- Even though we live in a broken world and will always experience grief, someday all creation will be liberated from its present state and all will be well (Romans 8:21)
Though it doesn’t happen all at once, we can find hope in grief when we feed ourselves a steady diet of God’s Word, reminding ourselves what is still true, even in the midst of our sadness.
Hope When You Are Grieving Comes With Time
Grief has also been described as a box with a large ball inside of it. Every time you move the box, the ball hits the side. That’s what grief feels like. Every time we laugh, talk, or even breathe, this ball rolls around inside of us, and every time it hits a side it hurts.
But over time, the ball gets a bit smaller. The pain is still there, but we don’t experience it quite like we once did.
There are really two tools that God uses to help us find hope after loss, whatever that loss may be: Truth, and time. When those two are applied together, we find that ball of pain getting more and more bearable.
If you are walking through a season of grief right now, don’t give up. There can still be hope. We can find that hope by acknowledging the reality of grief, and then applying truth to our hearts.
Related Post: Where is God When I'm Hurting?
Scriptures for Hope in Grief
Reading, speaking, singing, or praying the Bible is one of the best ways to find hope in grief. Here are some of our favorite Bible verses for hope in times of trouble.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. - Luke 6:21
Prayer: Thank you, Father, that although I am full of grief now, one day I will be full of laughter. Thank You for Your promise to me.
And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. - John 14: 16-20
Prayer: Thank you, Father, that though I am feeling alone, You have promised to never leave me alone. Thank You that You are with me and will lead me into hope.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. - Revelation 21:4
Prayer: Thank You that You have promised to wipe every tear from my eyes. Please minister to my heart and take the heaviness away.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. - Psalm 34:18
How to Find Hope in Grief?
Finding hope in grief feels like a play on words. Can it really be possible? Thankfully, it is. When we nurture our minds with truth, we remember the blessed hope of Christ’s return, when every wrong thing will be made right.
while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. - Titus 2: 13-14
Grieving with hope doesn’t mean operating in denial. We are simply choosing to grab on to a hope that cannot be shaken. We may still feel pain, sadness, and overwhelm, but we know a day is coming when all will be right in the world!
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