Death brings loneliness. It leaves you with a certain coldness, a certain numbness – it leaves you In a place where you don’t feel anything. You feel tired, you feel alone. You keep on thinking about how different things would be if he/she was still here.
Death brings separation – separation from the world, separation from your loved ones, separation from feeling – often a separation from God. We feel forsaken and question His ways, His will, His love.
Maybe you feel rejected – as if God has let you down, as if everyone has turned their backs on you. And it is normal to feel this way, but we need to realize that we can’t get stuck in this feeling.
Even though it feels like darkness has overwhelmed us, we need to know that Jesus, His love and grace, is a light that shines through, in Him is life and the life is the light of the world. It shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overwhelm it. In my preparation I was struck by the beauty of the old Sunday school song which says, ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so, Little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong.’
He is our strength when we are weak, the one who picks us up when we stumble and fall. We might feel overcome by our situation, small and insignificant, but He is God and He is good no matter where you find yourself. He towers above every situation, mighty to save.
We might be crushed by grief and sorrow today, but the joy of the Lord is our strength, His love is our refuge, His mercy shelters us against the storms of life.
In the beatitudes, the first part in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we read: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. The Greek word for ‘comforted’ is ‘parakaleo’ which means: to be called near.
Jesus calls out to us saying, come to me all who are weary and burdened, come to me all who mourn, all who are grief-stricken and overcome by sorrow. Come to me and I, the lover of your soul, will give you rest and peace abounding.
Losing a loved one is never an easy burden to bear, it makes us go through a whole flood of emotions, and often we lose ourselves in this. Today, Jesus says, blessed are those who mourn for they will be called near, near to my throne of love and grace, near to me…
You might feel separated from everyone and everything, but know that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. You might be feeling cold and numb, but realize that our God is an all-consuming fire, He has a desire to warm you up with His love and compassion. You might be feeling alone – but know this, dear friend, you are never alone.
If His eye is on the sparrow, surely He is watching over you.
Today we realize that death is a reality, one we can never escape – but we also know that there is hope. That when we leave here, we really do go to a better place, back to the arms of the God who formed us, who followed us as we made our way through life, back to the arms of God, the lover of our souls, the one who cares for us.
We realize this day that death is a reality but it has no power over us – and we as the living shouldn’t allow it to have any power over us. We will be sad, we will be broken, but God will pick us up, He will dust us off and place our feet back on solid ground. It might take some time, but in the end we need to know that, as the living, we are here to live. We shouldn’t let our sorrow, our pain, the tragedy keep us from being who God has created each and every one of us to be. We shouldn’t allow depression to overwhelm us, and we shouldn’t give in to all of those little voices telling us that life is not worth the living.
My prayer for you is that you will see, feel, experience the love of Christ like never before. That you will know Him as your savior, as the one who comforts you. It is my prayer that His joy will be your strength, that you will realize that you are not alone – no matter where you might go – He is watching over you.