WHEN 'IT IS WHAT IT IS' MEETS 'IT IS FINISHED': Finding Hope Beyond Grief

“It is what it is”

The words mysteriously appeared on her father's side of the family gravestone. 

IT IS WHAT IT IS. 

My niece had been walking through the graveyard, still trying to make sense of losing her parents, when she discovered that message, white letters permanently etched in black granite for all the world to see. 

"Aunt Nikki, was it you?" 

A few weeks earlier, we'd discussed what would be appropriate, but nothing seemed right. I didn't have an answer then or now. After all the scripture readings and graveside prayers, I was fresh out of explanations for what appeared hopeless. 

It was what it was. 

Then, a few days later, the mystery was solved. My brother-in-law had picked this message for his marker on the same day he ordered the inscription for his departed bride.

 After the shock wore off, we laughed in disbelief, because it was true. 

"It is what it is," we found ourselves saying. 

"It is what it is" when death kicked the legs out from underneath us. 

"It is what it is" when agonizing wails erupted from our souls. 

But when I scoured the Bible for an antiseptic to remove the hurt of being human, I realized that "it is what it is" is not God’s plan for our lives.

For all who believe in Jesus, "it is what it is" does not get the final say. 

Because Jesus spoke a better permanent Word for our eternity.

 Even though Jesus wept when death took His friend, Lazarus, even though He hated the sin, the suffering, and the separation, Jesus never said, "It is what it is." 

Instead, Jesus stared down the tomb and shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" 

Jesus refused to let hard words permanently mark the graves of those He loved.

So, He took His divine hands, engraved with our names, and offered them to the executioner who drove the hard words into His soft flesh one sharp nail at a time. 

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

Jesus hung on to the pain of those words for hours. 

The Son of God bore the full weight of our heavy, hopeless state on His bruised and bleeding back. 

Then "it is what it is" officially met the great "I AM." 

Jesus cried out, "IT IS FINISHED!,” and the words on every tombstone were overcome, made obsolete. 

The Living Word exhaled the final Word over death, wasted lives, and haunted humanity longing to break free. 

Death’s permanent reign on our lives was finished then, and it’s still finished today. 

So, don’t fear the valley of the shadow of death. Don’t be afraid if those mysterious words suddenly appear before your eyes.

”It is what it is" is true, but only for a little while.

IT IS FINISHED is true forever for all who call on the name of the Lord.