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Psalm 116: 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is
the death of his saints. (NIV)
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I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of living too long.* |
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Someone aptly put into words my thoughts as I sat through
another session of prayer requests for sick old people: sometimes we seem to be praying the saints out of heaven. None of
us wants to say good-bye to our beloved parents and grandparents. We certainly
don’t want them to suffer. But asking God to prolong their lives is for our
benefit more than theirs. Apparently, God likes it when his saints die.
Before we charge off and tell our old and dying loved ones
that it’s time for them to go, let’s examine the psalmist’s words more closely
and then look at how we might pray more appropriately for the infirm
saints.
The writer does not mention age. The death of a saint of any
age is precious in the Lord’s sight. No matter how, when or where they pass,
God welcomes them home. The death of a saint may be precious to the Lord, but so
is his life. If we think of the word precious
in terms of value; and if we consider
life and death in God’s terms, we begin to better understand the psalmist’s
point. From our perspective, death is the end of life, but from God’s point of
view, death is merely a continuation of life. We shouldn’t picture God as
rejoicing because Granny died; we should see his delight in the next stage of
her life – the one that will never end.
So how should we pray for the suffering saint on his
deathbed? The same way we pray for everyone and everything else: according to
God’s will (I John 5: 14) and in Jesus’ name (John 14: 13). You may not be
ready to give up your loved one, but God is ready to comfort and sustain you
when you suffer loss. Let him. Your life is precious to him.
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Death could be the loneliest event of all, but for a believer it leads to a family reunion.* |
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