God will wipe away every tear

See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more.
Revelation 21:3-4

It doesn’t take much—or anything at all—to convince the readers of a blog about Perinatal loss and grief that sadness abounds in this world of ours. The loss of a child, a baby, a little one is so untimely, so wrong that the world seems so backwards and so unjust to allow such a tragedy to happen.

You hear from people, from the bible, from pastors…that God will wipe away every tear, and this is true. However, this is not an admonition to “buck up” or “get over it;” it is to say that there are tears to wipe. It is an acknowledgement that your grief is real. It is an admonition to grieve in a way that you need to grieve, specific to your needs and your experiences.

That it is God who will wipe away every tear from your eyes is also a profound insight into God’s immediate closeness; God is with you in your grief, God knows every tear you cry, God is not afraid of your tears; in fact, God also cries with you.

At the same time, the God who dwells with you is the God who makes death, mourning, crying and pain cease to be. For now, these things are with us, but then they will no longer be.

God dwells with you, for you are God’s own child. Cry, weep, sob, grieve in the way that you need; it is God who will wipe away every tear.