Why Does Death Bring Us So Much Pain?

   While we were driving in the car on the way to a memorial for a friend's daughter who was killed, my husband was asking why it has to hurt so much when you lose someone you love. That is a good question. Why couldn't God have made us a little more independent of each other so when one dies, it doesn't hurt so bad.
   I didn't really have any answers to that question, but after taking a Biblical counseling course on marriage counseling, I think I might have some insight. Although I have heard this before, I had never made the connections to God being relational in His existence. We were learning how human beings are created in God's image, and I never really understood any connections of that fact to anything else in life until now.
  God exists in relationship. Man is created in God's image, and exists in relationships. God is, and always has been in relationship with Himself, by way of the Trinity. Man, of course, is not like God in that way, but God did create man to be in relationships with others. We could even say that man is gregarious. No man is an island. When God first created man (Adam), he brought the animals to Adam, and Adam named them, but God in His wisdom knew that the animals would not provide the type of relationship that was suitable for Adam, so, God created Eve. Eve was exactly was Adam needed for a relationship.
 So, when we are in relationship with one another, we are affected by one another, whether it be a marriage relationship, family relationship, or relationships in the body of Christ. We were made for relationships. This is one aspect of how man reflects the image of God.
  The Bible gives an illustration of the body being made up of many members (body parts). It says that when one part of the body hurts, all the parts of the body hurt. If one part of the body rejoices, all the parts rejoice.
  When we lose someone we love, it hurts. It is very painful for us. That is because we were made for relationships. God has enjoyed relationship with Himself from eternity past and will continue to enjoy His relationship with Himself throughout eternity. God will never experience having one part of the Trinity die, but in a sense He did experience the pain of grieving when He sent His own Son to die for our sins. That pain was excruciating to God the Father as He placed all our sins on His Son, so that we could be free from having to pay the penalty for our own sins. God was grieved at the sins of mankind in Genesis chapter 6. People were so wicked they were inventing new ways of wickedness. God provided a huge boat that would carry those who would repent of their wickedness and sin, but only 8 people responded. God was very sad about the sin of mankind that He destroyed the rest of mankind in the Flood. God was very sad to have to destroy mankind, but God was sad when He gave His Son to die for our sins. Yet, He did it gladly, because now many, many people will come to know Him and have a relationship with Him through the Cross of His Son.
  God grieves, and people grieve. Yet God is with us as we grieve, if we know Him. He carries us through the time of our serious pain, and brings us to the other side.
  God exists in relationship. We are created in His image. We were made to live in relationship with one another. We are not islands or robots. We were made for fellowship and relationship with God and one another.