Dealing with loss is, I think, part of the human experience. There have been times where I’ve caught myself daydreaming about the loss that I’ve incurred over the years. Broken relationships. Perhaps it’s been a friend whom I have drifted away from, or family members whom I haven’t spoken to in years. Missed opportunities at work. Difficulties with your church family. “Lord, why do these things happen?”
The sting that we can experience with loss can sometimes become too much to bear. We want to cry out to people around us. Sometimes, we can get angry. We want others to understand. We want a listening ear to walk with us. Maybe it’s too hard to articulate the loss to other people. Maybe the words don’t come out, and you aren’t able to express how you truly feel. Perhaps you have been able to articulate what that loss has felt like but feel like no one can sympathise with you. Maybe they have tried to console you, but their words haven’t been the soothing balm that you have hoped they were.
When we experience loss and we are lost for words, God promises that his Holy Spirit helps us to pray. Paul the Apostle writes these words,
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26–27 ESV
We can be confident to know that the Spirit who is in those who trust in Jesus will be speaking words on our behalf. We can be confident to know that Jesus as our great High priest is seated at the right hand of the Throne of the Most High interceding for you (Hebrews 7:26, 8:1-2). We can confidently take our worries, our cares, and our pains to Him and he will provide us a peace that transcends all understanding that will guard our hearts and our minds in Him (Philippians 4:7). We can be confident that Jesus Christ was like us in every way, but he was without sin, and therefore is able to sympathise with our weaknesses. So we can be confident to know that we will receive mercy and grace in times of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Further Reading: Romans 8, Hebrews 7:26-8:2, Philippians 4:4-7, Hebrews 4:14-16