(I too late discovered that during my efforts to condense a much longer message, I mistakenly edited out an important paragraph regarding “hope.” The following is the corrected version.)
There is nothing beautiful about death. It marks the end of a love relationship with another that we enjoyed on this earth. And in the days, months, and years that follow, we are very vulnerable to painful feelings and actions that we would not otherwise experience.
It is for such uncertain, painful journeys that the Apostle Paul encourages us to lean into God, whom he names as “…the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Cor. 1:3-4),
And so, I share with you a bit of the Godly comfort I discovered as I searched the scriptures for help in finding my way through the darkness of grief following the sudden cardiac death of our twenty-three-year-old son. During that searching journey through the Scriptures, I discovered that God comforts us by offering us two wonderful lamps of “memories” and of “hope.”
The light from the “lamp of “memories” leads us back through the mists of the past to the many happy scenes and delightful experiences that we enjoyed with our loved one. And when a life has been lived constructively for God, family, and neighbor, this lamp of memories provides us comforting light and healing for our bereavement journey.
I now know that one of the most priceless gifts God gives us through the life of another person is the precious memories they have given us. These treasured memories are ours to keep, to hold, and to cherish, a treasure that no one can rob from us. These memories should never be buried or locked away and forgotten, because they are gifted to us for us to forever keep alive our enjoyment and respect for their relationship with us.
The writer of Proverbs suggested this when he wrote, “The memory of the righteous will be a blessing,” (Pr. 10:7a). This ability to re-visit and enjoy these memories means that we never need to do as is often said, “pay your last respects” to a loved one who has died.
The other lamp that God gives us is thelamp of “hope.” The light of this lamp encourages and leads us forward through the uncertain and sometimes difficult mists of each tomorrow.
The painful experience of bereavement grief will most likely cause us to cry out, “Where is God?” even as I did. It was then that I discovered the healing comfort that many of the Psalms offer us. Such as in Psalms 42 we hear the writer questioning God’s absence, and three times he questions himself, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?” And three times he answers himself with the best reassuring and healing answer, “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”
It was on the night before his crucifixion that our Lord Jesus gathered with his disciples in an upper room somewhere in Jerusalem. And as the evening progress, Jesus began to talk to them very intimately about his approaching death and departure from them. He knew that his remaining time to be with them was rapidly coming to an end.
He also knew that his disciples were very troubled and so he comforted them with this promise, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John14:1-6).
With these few words of encouragement, Jesus himself promised them the eternal hope we all long to experience. This hope is God’s lamp of comfort and reassurance that lights our journey to the Father’s house, our eternal home.
And so, I remind all of us who grieve the death of loved ones, that with the lamp of memories and the lamp of hope, our “God of all comfort” offers us healing and hope, that is, healing for our bereavement pain and hope for our future.
And to all I say, lean into God’s love for you!
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Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness”– www.geigler13.wordpress.com – 11/05/25
Healing Rays of Righteousness 