In the Word: Rejoicing the Heart (Part 2)

Grief and loss will surface good and honest questions about who God is and how He works, and our Savior wants to meet us in the questioning through His Word. We can read and study God’s Word even when we wonder if it’s still true, even when our doubts seem to override what we are confident in. God’s Word holds more power than our feelings about His Word.

As I have grown in studying God’s Word, I have had to learn to be patient, reading it when I feel like it and when I don’t. I’ve had to remember that His Word holds power even if it doesn’t feel like it. Simply being in the Word will allow God to do a work in my heart even when I can’t see the fruit right away. Some days I just read a verse or I thought about a verse I knew, and other days I read chapters. Some days I studied, and other days my eyes glazed over and I don’t remember a thing I read. But over time, God’s Word has rejoiced my heart. His Word and His ways have made me glad, even as tears of sorrow have flooded my eyes. I have come to know God as a good and loving Father who sees my pain and wants to redeem it in the present and for eternity.

It might be difficult to open God’s Word or know where to start when grief overwhelms you. The psalms are a great place to start. They teach us how to express our very real and raw emotions while still continuing to direct our hearts back to the character of God. I have found much comfort in the Words of God through Psalm. The book of John is a wonderful place to begin in order to understand the suffering of Jesus and how His death and resurrection speaks to our pain and points us to hope.

Regardless of where you are sitting in God’s Word today, or how it may feel (or not feel), I promise you this: His Word will rejoice your heart. It may take time, and the rejoicing many ebb and flow, but one thing I know is that the more we are in God’s Word, the more we will know Him, and the more firmly rooted in His love and goodness we will become.

It is now nearly five years since I sat on that worn chair and struggled to open my Bible. But now, while I sit here writing of how God’s Word rejoices our hearts, there is a smile emerging on my face as I think of how God has been faithful to fill my heart with the power and hope of His Word over the last five years. I need to be reminded of this daily, for I am prone to look elsewhere to find life and joy. I can confidently say that the most life and joy and rejoicing I have ever found on this unwelcome and unpredictable road of grief has always been found through His Word. And like the Psalmist in Psalm 119:50,  I can say, “This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your Word has revived me.”