The death of a loved one in this life is to us a sad experience as we will miss seeing their face, hearing their voice, and experiencing life with them. As many of you already know, my sister passed away Saturday afternoon after a long and hard fought battle with cancer. I had prayed long that God would heal her, but obviously He had other plans, and His plans are perfect – even when we don’t understand them.
It is a human and natural response for us to feel sorrow when a loved one passes, and often our response is to wish they were still alive. But, read what Psalm 116:15 tells us, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” We can read those words and question, “What does that mean, why would He think it ‘precious’?” And, the more loved ones I lose in this life, the more I begin to understand partly what I think is meant.
You see, in this life – we have pain, we have sin, we have temptation, we have all sort of battles that we must fight, and while we should fight each battle with all the strength God gives us, at the end of our lives when we finally give up this life – we win the greatest battle. That is – if we have a true relationship with Jesus Christ, because we lose all the evils of this life and gain all the blessings of heaven in an instance.
God has a perfect plan for each of our lives while we are here on this earth, and He wants us to focus on Him and His plan, but when that plan is over, and our lives here are finished, it is kind of like a soldier coming home after being stationed on a foreign battleground. You’ve seen the videos of spouses and parents so excited and happy to welcome home that soldier, and I think that is what this verse is talking about. Yes, we have a job to do while we are still alive, but when that job is completed, and we get to go home to heaven, I feel God saying “Welcome home, my child, you are finished fighting!” To Almighty God, who has watched us fight those battles, it is a precious moment when we have to fight no more!
My brother, my father, and now my sister have all been welcomed into the arms of Almighty God, what reason do we have to not rejoice with them? Yes, I miss them, but they have no more pain, no more sin, no more temptations – no more battles. The war for them is over! I only look forward to the day when I too can go home – until then, I must give everything I have to fight the good fight, making use of all the armor and strength provided by our Commander! For one day, I too will have to give my report to Him of what I have done with all He has given me!