How Worship Can Bring Healing in Tragedy
When suffering strikes, our souls cry out for answers and relief. Tragedy pulls at our hearts and troubles our minds as we wrestle with making sense of senseless calamity. Pain prompts an instinctual desire to withdraw from God or deny His goodness when life darkens.
Yet scripture and church history reveal a better way – drawing near to God in worship even amid affliction. Biblical figures modeled faith in God’s redemptive purpose by fixing their eyes on eternity despite unanswered questions. As modern believers, we can follow their example to find hope and healing in our deepest hurts.
Biblical Examples of Worship in Suffering
Throughout the Bible, godly men and women responded to horrific trauma by worshiping their sovereign Lord. Their examples model how to cling to faith during incomprehensible hardship.
After losing his livelihood, possessions, children, and health in quick succession, Job mourned deeply. Yet in his grief he declared, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21). Likewise, after the death of his infant son, King David “got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped” (2 Samuel 12:20).
When threatened with a torturous death for refusing to worship idols, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, saying, “The God we serve can deliver us from [the fiery furnace]. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods” (Daniel 3:17-18). Their allegiance to God remained unshaken despite the threat of tragedy.
After the apostles experienced a brutal flogging for preaching Christ, “they left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news” (Acts 5:41-42). Rather than retreat in fear, they boldly worshipped and testified of Christ in response to affliction.
Biblical Hope that Sorrow Will Turn to Joy
In addition to examples of worship in hardship, scripture also provides the hope that God ultimately turns suffering into joy for those who follow Him. King David wrote, “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). As we bring our agonies to God, He exchanges them for the oil of gladness (Isaiah 61:3). “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy,” the Psalmist declares (Psalm 126:5).
In the New Testament, Jesus says “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). Though it may be challenging to grasp at the moment, believers can trust Christ’s promise: “You will have pain for a little while. But after a short time, God will make things right. He will give you his glory forever” (1 Peter 5:10). The fleeting afflictions of this age produce an eternal glory beyond comparison (2 Corinthians 4:17).
So, we need not be without hope, even if hardship feels insurmountable. God specializes in turning desperation into celebration. As we worship Him through the tears, He lifts our eyes to a joy-filled eternity free from all sin, death, and pain.
The Gospel Answer to the Problem of Evil
Of course, we still cry out in our anguish to know why a loving God would allow such tragedy and suffering. The existence of evil often causes believers and unbelievers alike to question God’s goodness. If God is all-powerful, why doesn’t He put an end to affliction?
Yet Christianity offers a response that no other worldview can match. The gospel message assures that God is thoroughly acquainted with human agony. In Christ, God entered the depth of human suffering to defeat evil from the inside out. Though perfect and untainted by sin, Jesus willingly underwent rejection, torture, and a brutal execution on the cross. He bore the weight of the world’s evil so we might be reconciled to God.
This incredible act of redemptive love demonstrates that God is neither detached from human suffering nor indifferent to it. Christ experienced trauma infinitely beyond what any man could endure. He was “despised and rejected by mankind” (Isaiah 53:3), crying out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) as He bore God’s full wrath for human sin. The grief of a grieving world flooded Christ’s spotless soul. He fully shares in our sufferings so we can share in His comfort (2 Corinthians 1:5).
Christ’s resurrection represents the definitive victory over affliction and the condemnation of all evil. His death was no defeat – it marked the decisive destruction of the power of trauma, despair, and sin. The cross secures the promise that one day, God Himself will wipe every tear from our eyes, and “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4).
So then, we need not attribute tragedy to God’s indifference or impotence. Instead, God came in Christ to be traumatized beyond what we could ever bear to bring eternal deliverance from evil’s curse. The gospel reminds us that justice against wickedness is coming. The cross guarantees that redemption can come even from the most horrific sufferings. As we worship Jesus, even amid affliction, we declare that evil and death will not have the final word.
Bringing the Hope of Christ to Others
When tragedy strikes our communities, our worship of God counter-intuitively showcases the gospel’s victory. By responding to horrific events with faith in God’s redemptive purposes, our lives radiate the hope of Christ. As our souls overflow with worship born of trusting God in suffering, His supernatural peace is evident. This attracts others to the God who carries us through the valleys of death.
With soft voices, we can point to Christ as the only source of lasting comfort in grief. We can gently direct those grappling with tragedy to find refuge in the Man of Sorrows, whispering, “Come to Jesus.” As shepherds, we guide hurting souls to the still waters and green pastures of Christ’s comfort and restoration. We model forsaking retaliation for redemption, proclaiming that forgiveness triumphs over injustice.
Our steadfast example in the depths of agony gives our message of hope credibility. When horror unfolds, we cling to the providence of an all-wise God. When evil seems insurmountable, we proclaim the authority of the risen Christ. When asked, “Where was God in this tragedy?” we respond: “At Calvary, sharing in our sufferings out of immeasurable love. And through His Spirit, with you today in your pain.”
Hardship will undoubtedly come. But as believers worship in distress, the light of God’s healing love pierces the darkness. Christ in us empowers us to suffer well by surrendering our need for control and understanding. His strength is made perfect in weakness. Let’s allow God to write beautiful stories of redemption, even in the ashes of our mourning.
The Irish Poet Thomas Moore penned these words while overcome with empathy for the mourners at a small chapel cemetery. These words of comfort I offer to a community in grief –
“Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that heaven can’t heal.”
Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Amen.
Josh Cehulik 