A reminder about grief: it isn’t linear, doesn’t honor the calendar or the clock or the weather…And it lives right alongside joy and hope and good work and sometimes it’s so quiet, you think it’s gone. – Shauna Niequist

Mourning the loss of a loved one can be unpredictable and downright draining. It can be delayed, not surfacing until years after a loss. While it sounds undesirable, grieving is actually a very necessary process.

Grief is the natural reaction to loss…both a universal and a personal experience. Individual experiences of grief vary and are influenced by the nature of the loss. Experts advise those grieving to realize they can’t control the process and to prepare for varying stages of grief. Mourning can last for months or years. – “What is Grief”, Mayo Clinic

Memories are powerful. While mourning the loss of a loved one, we may find ourselves slipping back into waves of sadness from time to time. Everyone experiences some level of grief in their lifetime, this doesn’t make it any easier to go through.

While some people are able to take time off to mourn the loss of a loved one, many are not able to. Those memories that connect us to loved ones or past experiences, move us deeply yet life demands that we keep living.

Our bodies were created to respond to the stirrings caused by great loss, releasing chemicals to help us get through it. For this reason, it is beneficial to have a support system during this time.

Though we may crave alone time, it’s important to have somebody close to us to lean on. Our energy level will most likely not be the same while we grieve. Our helper(s) can pray for and with us, or even help prepare meals or bring them by.

There are other ways a support system can pitch in when life doesn’t slow down, because the truth is, our bodies and minds are still going to do what they were designed to do. But there’s Someone who has promised to guide us through the dark, Someone with unmatched strength and empathy, Someone who can comfort us with his very own words.

Comforting Bible Verses for Mourning the Loss of a Loved One

What if we don’t have anyone close to us, who can help us out? How can we be encouraged and strengthened the most, whether we have close friends or family to walk alongside?

God is always available and willing to give comfort. When we feel as if we have no one to lean on for strength, he is right there with us.

We can read Bible verses about death and why there’s no reason to fear it, and we can read about those who’ve already walked through mourning the loss of a loved one, to see how God helped them.

Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My [victorious] right hand of rightness and justice. – Isaiah 41:10, AMPC

How can we cope with mourning the loss of a loved one when we are alone? What if circumstances threaten to overwhelm us? Will prayer and reading scripture really be enough to strengthen us?

While everyone processes loss differently, reading comforting Bible verses will impact us in the healthiest of ways. Verses like the one below, remind us why we ultimately cannot depend on another person to give us what our heart needs. Only God can do this.

Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. – Deuteronomy 31:6, The Message

What if grief makes our life miserable? There is no doubt we might feel at times feel so very awful, but when we read scripture that reminds us how much we are loved and held, it will give us strength.

We won’t always be miserable. Experiencing the death of a loved one or another deep loss means we will need more rest and strength than ever before, and this okay.

For the Lord, your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will give you victory. He will rejoice over you with great gladness; he will love you and not accuse you.” Is that a joyous choir I hear? No, it is the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song. – Zephaniah 3:17-18, TLB

The Lord is close to those who have suffered disappointment. He saves those who are discouraged. – Psalm 34:18, ERV

Great blessings belong to those who are sad now. God will comfort them. – Matthew 5:4, ERV

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and eliminate death entirely. No one will mourn or weep any longer. The pain of wounds will no longer exist, for the old order has ceased. – Revelation 21:4, TPT

When a woman gives birth, she has a hard time, there’s no getting around it. But when the baby is born, there is joy in the birth. This new life in the world wipes out memory of the pain. The sadness you have right now is similar to that pain, but the coming joy is also similar. When I see you again, you’ll be full of joy, and it will be a joy no one can rob from you. You’ll no longer be so full of questions. – John 16:22, The Message

God understands what it’s like to experience intense sadness. He sees our pain and wants us to bring our heavy hearts to him in prayer. Everyone prays differently, but this is one way we can gain strength from the Lord.

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. – Romans 8:26-28, The Message

Do you see now how reading Bible verses about death, loss, and pain can comfort us? They remind us we are not alone and that pain, though sometimes drawn out, is still temporary.

When we remember that our time on this present earth is only a fraction of our lives in light of eternity, it gives us hope that lifts our spirits.

Hope has a chemical reaction that happens within us. Our body will be comforted similarly to the way it experiences a warm hug, but much deeper, when we read Bible verses to help us deal with mourning the loss of a loved one.

Beloved brothers and sisters, we want you to be quite certain about the truth concerning those who have passed away so that you won’t be overwhelmed with grief like many others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who died while believing in him. This is the word of the Lord: we who are alive in him and remain on earth when the Lord appears will by no means have an advantage over those who have already died, for both will rise together. – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15, TPT

I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and peace as you trust in him. Then you will have more and more hope, and it will flow out of you by the power of the Holy Spirit. – Romans 5:13, ERV

Let me make it quite clear: You will weep and be overcome with grief over what happens to me. The unbelieving world will be happy, while you will be filled with sorrow. But know this, your sadness will turn into joy when you see me again! – John 16:20, TPT

It also helps to read Bible verses after the passing of a loved one because the Scriptures show us people’s natural responses to great loss. Our initial reaction may cause us to feel like we aren’t cared about, but this is not true.

There is no one right way to grieve, but may we never forget God is the great Comforter.

Then Job stood up and tore his robe in grief and fell down upon the ground before God. – Job 1:20, TLB

You have seen me tossing and turning through the night. You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle! You have recorded every one in your book. – Psalm 56:8, TLB

The healthiest way to walk through mourning the loss of a loved one is to trust in the Lord for strength. His strength is so powerful that we can even pass it on to others.

Logic and circumstance may try to whisper impossibilities, but even those have to bow before God.

He always comes alongside us to comfort us in every suffering so that we can come alongside those who are in any painful trial. We can bring them this same comfort that God has poured out upon us. – 2 Corinthians 1:4, TPT

Then he broke through and transformed all my wailing into a whirling dance of ecstatic praise! He has torn the veil and lifted from me the sad heaviness of mourning. He wrapped me in the glory garments of gladness. – Psalm 30:11, TPT