Good and Faithful Servant

Today and every day, this is our steadfast truth:  “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”  Lamentations 3:22-23

Sometimes mornings bring with them difficult moments, difficult news.  Sometimes you wake up to discover that something unexpected happened while you were asleep.  Sometimes you are greeted with news you weren’t prepared for, and sometimes it is the news that God has called one of his people home to heaven.  

One of this week’s mornings began this way.  The news was delivered: God called one of his faithful home to him.  For us who have the limited knowledge allotted to earth’s inhabitants, it was unexpected; he was too young.  His wife, his children, especially, didn’t expect to have to start this new chapter in their lives on this day.  

Of course, from God’s point of view, nothing is unexpected.  This man’s days were planned from eternity; God knew the number of his days before one of them came to be.  God blessed him and his loved ones with exactly the perfect amount of time to walk this earth and to be together.

But…

Oh, is it ever difficult to keep our sinful natures in check and to refrain from questioning God’s wisdom at such a time!  He has children in high school and grade school… they need their dad!  His young adult children need the fatherly wisdom that hadn’t yet been shared. His wife still needs her partner and lifemate. His mother needs the strength and support he provided. His church family still needs the many words of gratefulness and encouragement he offered each Sunday.  The youth group needs its leader.  Other people and ministries, within the congregation and beyond, depend on him.

We want to cry out, “God, don’t you know that he was still needed here?”

“Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”  Matthew 6:8

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Jeremiah 29:11

Our very limited earthly knowledge deceives us into thinking we know exactly what we need and what is best for us, but our loving Father, in his perfect knowledge and wisdom, knows better.  Our faith in this truth doesn’t erase the difficulty of facing challenging times such as the death of a loved one. And it doesn’t mean we will comprehend on this side of heaven how this could be what is best. It does, however, give us the assurance that God’s all-knowing and all-loving plan is not to harm us but only to prosper us, to never leave us now as he leads us on to an eternal future that he has prepared for us in heaven.

“But I trust in you, Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands.”  Psalm 31:14-15

None of us knows the length of our days.  We can only count on one moment at a time and then entrust every future moment to God and his perfect will.  When unexpected heartbreak strikes, when painful goodbyes must be said well before we are ready or willing to say them, we rely on the steadfast truth that God’s compassions never fail; we face the morning trusting in the new and oh so sufficient mercies that God promises to grant.  

Sunday morning Bible classes at our church will not be the same. I will miss the candid, thought-provoking questions of a man who endeavored to truly understand and take to heart the message of God’s Word.  I will miss the ways he made apparent his love for his family and his concern for their spiritual well-being. I will miss the things he noticed about others and the ways he so easily struck up a friendly conversation. 

For me, he was a casual acquaintance, and I feel the loss.  His family, especially, faces days that will look much different than what they had planned or expected.  I can only imagine what they are going through in these early days of grief.  I attempt in vain to come up with the right words to say or to figure out what I can DO to make it better.  Not knowing what else to do, and knowing that this one thing is the most powerful thing I can do, I pray.  Our heavenly Father knows exactly what they need and he promises to provide from the fullness of his grace.  

A focus on eternity provides strength for these sorrow-filled days.  Can you imagine the morning that greeted him?  He is enjoying the splendors of heavenly life with his Savior because he trusted in the salvation that had been won for him.  His family will celebrate with him in paradise when God determines their earthly days are over. 

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  2 Corinthians 4:17-18

We seldom know when an encounter with someone will be the last we get to have on earth.  We often don’t appreciate the blessings God grants us through another person until that person is gone.  We may think about and wish for what could have been.  Yet God assures us that what IS is better than what he never had planned for us in the first place.  

Thank you, dear God, for the life of this faithful Christian man.  Comfort those who mourn, and encourage all with the assurance of your faithfulness and the new mercies of each new morning.