The Stages of Grief

What are they?

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (1969)

5 Stages/Themes of Grief

Stage 1: Denial

Flat and absolute, or fluctuating denial of circumstance or situation.

Stage 2: Anger

Resentful of others, feeling of hopelessness and loss of control, despair.

Stage 3: Bargaining

Trying to make deals with God

Stage 4: Depression

Also accompanied by hopelessnes, grief, and loss. May become silent, refuse to see family or friends, and spend time alone crying and grieving.

Stage 5: Acceptance

Inner peace by quiet acceptance. May not be grounded in contentment, but is rather devoid of emotion/feeling. Death may be accepted with dignity and peace.

God and Grief

Various times God expressed grief.

How those devoted to God expressed grief (OT/NT).

Gaining comfort from God in hard times.

Genesis 6:5–6 HCSB

5 When the Lord saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, 6 the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Psalm 34:17–19 HCSB

17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He saves those crushed in spirit. 19 Many adversities come to the one who is righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all.

Psalm 147:1–6 HCSB

1 Hallelujah! How good it is to sing to our God, for praise is pleasant and lovely. 2 The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem; He gathers Israel’s exiled people. 3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 4 He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. 5 Our Lord is great, vast in power; His understanding is infinite. 6 The Lord helps the afflicted but brings the wicked to the ground.

Luke 4:16–21 NKJV

16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

John 14:15–18 HCSB

15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. 17 He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive Him because it doesn’t see Him or know Him. But you do know Him, because He remains with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.

2 Corinthians 3:17 HCSB

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 HCSB

3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.