When Grief Makes You Question God (Kara Campbell)

Grief brings many questions to the surface.

Why them?

Why now?

And perhaps the largest question: “God if you’re so good, why didn’t you stop this?”

Sometimes, these thoughts scare us. We feel the need to hide them because they make us

worry that we are doubting God. We wonder if being faithful means we can never ask why.

If you look at Scripture, there are so many examples of sorrow, questioning, and struggle.

One well known example is Job.

The interesting thing about our perspective, reading Job’s story, is that we know the why.

However, Job didn’t know. He didn’t know why God chose him to undergo these tribulations and loss. From his perspective, everything was falling apart. He lost his family, his property, his wealth, and more. We often read this story and skip to the part where he was blessed for his faith. Often, we don’t acknowledge the part where he questioned. He lamented. He cried out to God and quite literally begged to die.

“I will not keep silent; I will speak out of the anguish of my spirit.”

- Job 7:11

Job is saying: Yeah! I am hurting, and I am going to talk about it. Job didn’t feel the need to

clean up his feelings and have a clear mind before he brought it before the Lord. Instead, he

was honest, pure, genuine, and open before the Lord. The key is this: he didn’t stop believing. He questioned. But he brought his questions directly to the Lord. That is an important point when thinking about grief.

Faith isn’t having an answer for everything or even being happy about the situation. Faith is

saying, why but I still trust you.

“Though he slay me, I will still have hope in Him “

- Job 13:15

This is huge because he is angry, depressed, broken, yet he chooses to tell his God.

And eventually God responds. Yet, he doesn’t explain. He reveals Himself. Job wanted

answers, but God just gave his presence.

Job eventually says:

“My ears have heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.”

- Job 42:5

He’s the hope. Jesus is our hope.

And that’s the answer.

Paul says we should not grieve,

“like the rest of mankind who has no hope.

”

Notice what he isn’t saying here. He doesn’t say don’t grieve. Don’t hurt. Don’t question. Instead he’s saying don’t grieve without hope. I don’t believe grief means our faith is failing. I think grief is a place where our faith becomes honest.

I have grieved the loss of my close friends and family. I have grieved suicide, car accidents,

natural passing, cancer. We often grieve things that aren’t loss of life. Loss of job, relationship, self, etc. honestly fill in the blank. We all grieve something in this lifetime. It’s a human experience every single one of us will experience. I want to encourage you that if that is a season you are walking through, don’t try to be strong. Don’t try to hold yourself together. Fall apart at the feet of our Savior. Look to Jesus, our living hope. Allow Him to guide you, hold you, ease your sorrows, and give you a sense of peace. Not happiness but a peace only His hope can give you