It started as a sinking feeling deep in the pit of my stomach.

I looked down at my hands and realized that the rings that were normally on my fingers were missing.

I probably took them off when I was doing dishes, I thought. But when I went to look by my kitchen sink, the rings weren’t there.

Twenty minutes later, I’d searched my entire apartment, so I decided to retrace my steps to the nearest train station. I asked the woman at the ticket counter and the security guard if anyone had turned in lost rings. I went all the way back to my church building, hunting under chairs and on bathroom floors.

At the end of the day, all I had to show for my efforts was a stream of tears and my roommate’s emotionally supportive cat that followed me from room to room as I searched our apartment for the fifth time. Eventually, my brain chimed in: This is stupid. You shouldn’t be wasting this many tears over two rings. They weren’t even worth a lot of money.

As I sat down on the couch, exhausted after a day of fruitless searching, Jesus’s parables from Luke 15 came to my mind. While the Pharisees grumbled about his tendency to spend all his time with social outcasts, Jesus told three stories about lost things. A shepherd leaves his flock of 99 sheep to search for one. A woman loses one silver coin and sweeps her entire house until she finds it. And a father runs to embrace his prodigal son. Although I never found my rings, these parables comforted me with the knowledge that our Heavenly Father understands loss—no matter how small.

GOD UNDERSTANDS YOUR LOSS

Every day, we experience loss. We routinely misplace car keys, phones, and wallets. But we also say goodbye to treasured keepsakes, childhood homes, favorite coffee shops, and beloved pets. We endure transitions between homes, cities, and countries that feel like intangible losses of identity, culture, and community.

Our most heartbreaking losses often involve our friends and loved ones. Our children wander away from the truths of God’s Word. Our best friends’ marriage ends in bitter divorce. Our spouse passes away after a long battle with cancer. These life-changing moments can leave us feeling alone and hopeless.

The Bible tells us that God understands loss. After losing Lazarus, Jesus mourned even though he had the power to raise his friend from the dead (John 11:35). His parables remind us of the way God came looking for us when we were still lost in our sin. And his promises encourage us to look forward to the day when loss will no longer be part of our lives. Join me in claiming these three truths from Scripture to find encouragement in moments of loss.

God sees and cares about your loss because he sees and cares about you.

For only a penny you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!

Matthew 10:29-31 (GNT)

In God’s Word, you can find reminders of God’s love for you—something you can never lose.

For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor
the world below—there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39 (GNT)

Because of Jesus’s work on your behalf, you can look forward to his promise of a future without loss.

Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because of his great mercy he gave us new life by raising Jesus Christ from death. This fills us with a living hope, and so we look forward to possessing the rich blessings that God keeps for his people. He keeps them for you in heaven, where they cannot decay or spoil or fade away.

1 Peter 1:3-4 GNT