The Bible, A Place to Cry

Laura Digan September 13, 2026 0 0

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Genesis 37: 31-35 (NIV-UK)

31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, ‘We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.’

33 He recognised it and said, ‘It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.’

34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.’ So his father wept for him.

The Bible is not a book. It’s a place. A place we can bring our emotions, even when they’re raw and painful. 

This week Laura shows us how the Bible can be a place to cry, to lament, to bring all that we have been through. Some posts will touch on sensitive topics to do with loss, bereavement and sorrow, beginning with this monologue from the perspective of Joseph who believes his son has been killed. Depending on your life right now and how you’re feeling you may struggle to come to this particular place right now. If that’s true, that’s okay, you don’t have to. Know that God loves you and it’s okay to skip or skim this reflection and head straight to the prayer if it feels too heavy right now.”

Monologue:

They brought me his robe and I knew it before they spoke.

Joseph’s robe. 

My boy’s robe.

I held it in my hands and something inside me tore apart. 

Blood.

I had given him that robe in love. Now it has come home to me carrying the smell of death.

They tell me he is gone. Torn apart. Lost to me.

But how does a father bury a son when there is no body to hold? 

How do I say goodbye when my heart still listens for his footsteps?

They try to comfort me but I cannot be comforted.

God of Abraham, God of Isaac — where are you tonight?

I have walked with you through blessing and struggle. 

I have wrestled with you in the darkness.

But this darkness feels different.

Still… perhaps you are here.

Perhaps when all I can see is blood upon his robe, you can see what I cannot.

So hold Joseph, Lord.

And hold me too.

Prayer:

God of the broken-hearted, meet us in the places where our words run out.

Hold us when grief is heavy, and hope feels so very far away.

Help us trust that even in the darkness, you are still there. 

Amen