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| Flowers on a grave express grief for loved ones but also are a sign of faith in resurrection life. |
I can understand how grieving people question God and struggle spiritually. It’s not anything new. People of faith have raised issues of justice and wondered whether God is good or even exists for the ages. The Psalms are filled with questions and accusations.
When you are filled with pain, you want to cry out and have someone take that pain. You want answers. Why? What could I have done different? Will there be a life after death? And you wonder. How come God could not prevent this death? Is God almighty? Does God exist at all?
No one should negate such a human response to an existential crisis that is of ultimate consequences.
God understands you, your feelings, and your spiritual struggles. Trust that God is good and powerful. God may be mysterious and our human reality hard to accept. But God also has shown in Jesus that God is with us in suffering, and can bring life out of death.
“... so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again ...” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)
The way I see it, our loved ones are alive after they die. We certainly miss their physical presence here with us. But just as we can accept the spiritual reality of God, we should be able to grasp that someone who died, can be spiritually alive and present just the same.
May God comfort you in your loss. May you find understanding people. And may you come to trust in the reality of everlasting life for the saints here below and above.
