How Can The Pursuit of God Help Christians Walk Through Grief?

Direct answer: The Pursuit of God can help a grieving Christian turn toward God without pretending that sorrow has disappeared. Tozer’s themes of spiritual hunger, God’s presence, faith, and surrender can support grief when they are read alongside the Bible and used gently—not as a demand to feel better quickly, but as reminders that God remains God when the heart is wounded and attention is weak.

Grief changes the way people pray, read, remember, sleep, concentrate, and relate to others. A book that normally feels energizing may feel heavy. That does not mean the grieving believer is failing spiritually.

Grief needs lament before it needs a lesson

Scripture gives grieving believers words that are more honest than forced optimism. Psalm 42 contains thirst for God and deep discouragement in the same prayer. Psalm 13 asks how long. Psalm 34 speaks of the Lord’s nearness to the brokenhearted. Jesus Himself weeps at Lazarus’s tomb in John 11.

That biblical pattern matters when reading Tozer. His call to desire God should not be turned into, “If I really loved God, I would not feel this sad.” Grief and spiritual hunger can coexist. A believer may pursue God by lamenting, remembering, asking, waiting, and receiving help.

Tozer’s teaching on God’s presence can steady an unsettled heart

Chapter 5, “The Universal Presence,” emphasizes that God is not made present by our awareness of Him. For a grieving reader, that distinction can be deeply important. Emotional numbness is not proof of divine absence. A day without a strong sense of comfort is not evidence that God has abandoned His child.

Read that theme beside biblical promises rather than in isolation. Psalm 34:18, Romans 8:31–39, and Hebrews 13:5 all place confidence in God’s character and covenant faithfulness, not in the intensity of today’s feelings.

If you are walking through a season when you cannot feel God’s presence, see What Should I Do When I Cannot Feel God’s Presence? and The Pursuit of God Chapter 5 Summary: The Universal Presence for more focused study.

The “gaze of the soul” can become a very small act of trust

Tozer’s Chapter 7 describes faith with the image of an inward gaze toward God. A grieving person does not need to turn that image into a concentration exercise. Grief often scatters attention. The point can be much simpler: when the mind wanders through memories, fears, paperwork, decisions, or loneliness, return one small part of your attention to Christ.

A prayer may be only one sentence: “Jesus, keep me near You through this hour.” Another might be, “Father, I do not understand this loss, but help me trust Your character.” Faith can be real without being verbally impressive.

Surrender does not mean calling loss good

Tozer’s emphasis on surrender can be misunderstood in grief. Christian surrender does not require saying that death, betrayal, disease, separation, or other painful losses are themselves good. Scripture calls death an enemy, allows lament, and never requires believers to deny the reality of suffering.

Surrender means entrusting ourselves to God when we cannot control the outcome. It can include releasing the demand to understand everything now, while still asking hard questions, seeking justice where necessary, receiving medical or counseling care, and allowing other people to help carry practical burdens.

Use the book in portions small enough for grief

A grieving Christian may not be able to sustain a normal study schedule. Instead of pushing through a full chapter, use a gentle three-part reading rhythm:

Read one short section. Stop after a paragraph or two that clearly addresses the need in front of you.
Place it beside Scripture. Choose one biblical passage that confirms, corrects, or deepens the idea.
Respond honestly. Write one sentence about God, one sentence about the grief, and one request for today.

Then stop. Finishing more pages is not the measure of faithfulness.

Grief often needs people, not only private devotion

Second Corinthians 1:3–4 describes God as the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, and it immediately connects received comfort with comforting others. The New Testament does not picture suffering Christians as isolated spiritual projects.

Allow trusted believers to pray, bring a meal, sit quietly, handle a practical task, or simply listen. If grief is prolonged, traumatic, disabling, or accompanied by serious depression, panic, or inability to function, appropriate pastoral, counseling, or medical care may also be wise. A devotional classic can support grief; it should not be asked to replace forms of care that grief may require.

A seven-day grief-and-presence practice

For one week, do not set a large spiritual goal. Each day write four brief lines:

Today I miss… Name the loss honestly.
Today Scripture shows me… Record one truth from a short passage.
Today I need… Turn one real need into prayer.
Today I will receive or give… Name one practical act of care, rest, obedience, or connection.

This keeps grief from becoming either denial or endless introspection. The practice gives sorrow a place while continuing to face God.

From pursuing God in grief to abiding in Christ

Pathway 1 emphasizes the pursuit of God. Grief often reveals why the next movement matters: the Christian life cannot depend on maintaining a constant feeling of pursuit. Jesus speaks in John 15 about remaining in Him—continuing in dependent relationship with Christ as the source of life and fruit.

When you are ready, continue to Kingdom Pathway 2 — Abide in Me. The transition is especially helpful for a grieving believer because abiding emphasizes dependence, not spiritual performance.

What to carry with you

You do not need to choose between grieving deeply and seeking God faithfully. Biblical faith makes room for both. Let Tozer’s strongest themes point you back to Scripture, receive God’s presence as truth before it becomes feeling, and allow your pursuit of God to be as simple as turning toward Him again today.

Primary text consulted: A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God (Project Gutenberg reproduction of the 1948 text).