At A Loss For Words
I am about to leave my study and perform one of my least favorite duties as a pastor. I am about to officiate a man’s funeral. Now, please don’t misunderstand, I believe he was saved and there is no reason to doubt that his address is now Route #1, Heavenly City. It’s not the deceased at a funeral that concerns me, it’s all of us who are left behind. Wondering. What did he see when he got to heaven? What does it feel like to fly? Can they see us or are we just as invisible to them as they are to us?
The state of mind of family and friends also concerns me at a time like this. They are grieving because they have lost someone they love. They are often angry because God took them away. They are often confused because the death occurred at a most difficult time. While there are many uncertainties at a time like this on the part of family and friends there is someone just as bewildered, me. Even with all my education (by the way, I am educated far beyond my intelligence) and experience I am still at a loss at to what to say at a time like this. I always pray before I visit the home of the bereaved. It’s just that He is always painfully silent when I ask for “on the spot” wisdom. Awkwardly silent I turn to the Bible. I think the reason God is always silent concerning wisdom on the subject of death is He knows whatever I would say could not match what He has already said.
Imagine this. Jesus is about to die. He knows it and now His friends know as well. It has struck them like it does us. They are perplexed, worried and confused. Jesus sensing their emotions begins by saying, “Don’t let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me.” Then He goes on to describe the most awesome place anyone has ever seen, “In My Father’s house..” The first three verses in John 14 are the most encouraging words I have ever found to comfort someone who is left behind by someone they love. When Marco Polo used to describe China to those who had never been they believed he was being dishonest. He declared before he died, “I have not told half of what I’ve seen.” This “sketchy” description of heaven delivered to a group of bewildered disciples must not have been “half of what Jesus had seen.” But it was enough. Paul writes “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” I Corinthians 2:9. So, off I go to the funeral. I am going to deliver words that came from a person who knows how to deliver encouragement much better than me.
In His Shadow,
Pastor Ken
The state of mind of family and friends also concerns me at a time like this. They are grieving because they have lost someone they love. They are often angry because God took them away. They are often confused because the death occurred at a most difficult time. While there are many uncertainties at a time like this on the part of family and friends there is someone just as bewildered, me. Even with all my education (by the way, I am educated far beyond my intelligence) and experience I am still at a loss at to what to say at a time like this. I always pray before I visit the home of the bereaved. It’s just that He is always painfully silent when I ask for “on the spot” wisdom. Awkwardly silent I turn to the Bible. I think the reason God is always silent concerning wisdom on the subject of death is He knows whatever I would say could not match what He has already said.
Imagine this. Jesus is about to die. He knows it and now His friends know as well. It has struck them like it does us. They are perplexed, worried and confused. Jesus sensing their emotions begins by saying, “Don’t let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me.” Then He goes on to describe the most awesome place anyone has ever seen, “In My Father’s house..” The first three verses in John 14 are the most encouraging words I have ever found to comfort someone who is left behind by someone they love. When Marco Polo used to describe China to those who had never been they believed he was being dishonest. He declared before he died, “I have not told half of what I’ve seen.” This “sketchy” description of heaven delivered to a group of bewildered disciples must not have been “half of what Jesus had seen.” But it was enough. Paul writes “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” I Corinthians 2:9. So, off I go to the funeral. I am going to deliver words that came from a person who knows how to deliver encouragement much better than me.
In His Shadow,
Pastor Ken
posted by Pastor Ken at 11:07 AM
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