https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6CbV0vuXiM
Live Oak Cemetery, Selma, AL
The righteous perish,
and no one takes it to heart;
the devout are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil.
2 Those who walk uprightly
enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death. Isaiah 57:1-2
Earthly Goodbyes
I signed into my Facebook account…………there it was AGAIN, a death announcement: My dear friends, from childhood and youth, had said their earthly goodbyes to a grandson. A young man, just out of high school with his life full of promise and expectation, a beautiful soul whose life was over. From all accounts, this adored child was the “model” son and grandson.
Why? Why?
The scene from Steel Magnolias came instantly to mind as Sally Field in the role of mother stands at the graveside of her daughter (Julia Roberts) and screams, “Why?! Why?! I want to know why?!” My heart contracted in the pain of it all. My sweet friends’ faces before me. Their faces along with the faces of other friends who have experienced this unfathomable event of our earthly lives. Children and grandchildren are NOT supposed to die before their parents or grandparents. It is NOT the order of life!
Memorial Gardens, Demopolis, AL
The grim reality is this: God never intended it! We have only to look at the Garden to see what He intended. Idyllic. No death. No pain. No sorrow. Our minds are not “hardwired” for this world of brokenness. So, we grieve. We retreat. We retaliate.
New Live Oak Cemetery Entrance
Selma, AL
HOPE
But, our Heavenly Father did not leave us without hope. His Word (Jesus) steps in to give us what we can in no way give ourselves: HOPE.
Nearly thirteen years ago while the officer and gentleman was in the throes of battling cancer, another of our precious friends were plummeted into the earthly hell of facing the death of their youngest son. The officer and gentleman was determined to go to their home despite his own weakness from chemo to extend his heart and hand to another father reeling in grief. On the back of a Gideon’s business card, he wrote Isaiah 57:1-2. This verse has since been used to comfort many! Was my precious husband, these young men, my own friends, and so many others spared evil in death? The answer is a resounding yes! For even in the last few months evil has attacked many I know with a viciousness to difficult to put into words.
Death is NOT the end of Life
God’s Words repeat over and over, death is NOT the end of life. Psalm 116:15, the psalmist writes, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints!” Ecclesiastes 7:1, Solomon writes the “day of death is better than the day of birth.” (We don’t see it this way at all—–does our perspective need to change?) My favorite is Revelation 14:13: “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the LORD from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
We do not grieve as those who have no hope
The Lord does not want us to be “uninformed about those who are asleep,” so we “will not grieve without His hope.” (I Thessalonians 4:13) He desires for us to KNOW He “is near the brokenhearted” and He also weeps. (Psalm 34:18, and John 11:35) He never wanted this death (Ezekiel 18:32) and HE provided a way back to the Garden (John 3:16). He further promises, “But they that wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
National Cemetery
Fort Mitchell, Alabama
REJOICE
The Lord asks us to rejoice at death of His saints. This is nearly impossible for this selfish girl. I want my loved ones with me! God, however, loves them more than I do and He simply shared them with me. Each was His all along. I was given the honor of knowing, loving, and sharing their life. My joy is in knowing I will see them again! We cannot imagine all God has in store for us. (I Cor 2:9) He tells us that “to be absent from this body is to be present with the LORD!” (II Cor 5:8)
Heal the brokenhearted
It is true, I can know all these words of life and not feel it! It is also true, these words do give hope in what feels hopeless. The pit of death is dark, cold, scary, and filled with the screams of grief. The fall into it is sudden, unexpected, and there is nothing to break the impact. At the bottom, is where we look up to see the beautiful smiling face of the Savior with His nail pierced hand extended to pick up our broken hearts and do what only He can do: Heal the brokenhearted. (Psalm 147:3)
Take my hand
I recently heard one pastor say “Jesus NEVER give up the Garden ideal.” He came to “wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be NO MORE, neither shall there be mourning, no crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have p ssed away!” (Revelation 21:4) Can I be thankful for all the evil God spared these righteous ones from? When I think about it from this point of view, my greedy hands open to release these loved ones into His divine care until we meet again.
Come quickly LORD Jesus!
Yvonne Jones
Additional readings: https://www.treadingwatertiljesuscomes.com/2018/08/10/humanism-and-christian-view-of-death/ by Karly Mims
https://www.treadingwatertiljesuscomes.com/2018/06/13/cloud-of-witnesses-officer-and-gentleman/
Back to the Garden by Crowder
Artwor
