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One heart-breaking image has stuck in my mind from the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral last year. Due to the pandemic restrictions, the Queen of the United Kingdom spent the service sitting on her own. A solitary figure, surrounded by rows and rows of empty pews, bidding farewell to her husband of seventy-three years.

Her isolated mourning resonated with thousands of viewers who had faced similarly lonely farewells during the coronavirus pandemic. There’s something hollow about having to grieve alone. Yet many commented that, despite the empty pew, her strong faith in God meant she wasn’t alone at all.

This was the life-changing truth David experienced when he felt alone and afraid (see 1 Samuel 21:10–12). “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted,” he wrote (Psalm 34:18). God is in our grief, our pain and our questions. The word to describe God’s presence in our painful times is not distant, but close. His eyes are fixed on us (v. 15), His ears are attentive to our cries (v. 16) and He “delivers [his people] from all their troubles” (v. 17). Even those of us who haven’t grieved during the pandemic may be emerging out of it feeling more fragile. Lonelier. Sadder. More anxious. While full recovery may not be immediate, a crucial part of God’s deliverance is His intimacy when our hearts ache. May He be our refuge today, for the Lord is close to the broken-hearted. Chris Wale - Daily Bread