Scripture: Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
There are moments when the world tilts off its axis. A leader is assassinated. A public figure dies suddenly. A tragedy unfolds on the news, and before you can even process it, the commentary has already started.
Shock does not only wound, it disorients. You cannot breathe right. Time feels wrong. And in that swirl of noise and pain, God does not demand composure. He welcomes honesty. The psalms show us that grief is not weakness but worship. David cried out. Habakkuk wept over violence. Jeremiah wrote an entire book of laments.
Faith does not erase grief, but it keeps grief from erasing us. That is the difference. We can mourn deeply while clinging to hope fiercely. Psalm 46 declares God is our refuge when nations rage. Habakkuk chose joy even when everything around him collapsed. Their hope did not deny pain, it defied it.
Hope does not silence lament. Hope makes lament bearable. It lets us admit: this hurts more than words, but God is still here.
Application
- Write your own psalm of grief. Do not edit yourself. Pour it out.
- Sit in silence before God. Let Him hold what you cannot explain.
- Read a psalm of lament aloud each day this week. Let those words become your words.
- If you are numb, ask someone to pray for you until you find your own voice again.
Prayer
Lord, I do not understand why this happened. I am angry, hurt, and tired. Meet me here anyway. Do not let despair have the last word. Hold me until hope feels real again. Amen.
Tragedy shakes the world without warning, but God meets us in grief and steadies us with hope that does not fail.
In Luminance 