Psalms for Grief and Loss
When loss leaves a hole, the Psalms give us safe language to grieve and a God who is near.
Grief is not a problem to be solved but a season to be walked. The Psalms do not rush the grieving; they walk beside them and give them words.
Psalm 6 cries out with a soul "sore vexed" and bones "troubled." Psalm 13 asks, "How long?" and ends in trust. Psalm 31 entrusts the spirit into God’s hands. Psalm 23 walks through the valley of the shadow with the Shepherd.
Psalm 116 is a thanksgiving for deliverance from death: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Psalm 130 waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.
In grief, the Psalms let us be honest and hopeful at once. They do not require us to feel better before we pray; they let us bring our sorrow to a God who has Himself known loss, and who promises to be near to the brokenhearted.
Related Psalms
Psalm 23
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
The beloved shepherd psalm: provision, guidance, comfort, and eternal dwelling.
Read morePsalm 6
“O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.”
A penitent plea for mercy in sickness and distress, ending in confident hope.
Read more