Good morning son,
A little over a month ago I was
laughing with him, talking about the year to come. Last night I
stood with the family as we each said our goodbyes after he closed
his eyes for the last time. You do not understand sometimes why God
shows you different things in your time with him in the morning, but
it is always to prepare you. He does not leave his children, you and
I in the dark. See yesterday morning when I opened the Word I opened
to a very familiar passage for me, Psalm 22. The words that leaped
off the page for me were as follows:
“Many bulls surround me; strong bulls
of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions tearing their prey open their
mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water, and all my bones
are out of joint. My heart has turned to was; it has melted away
within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue
sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.
Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they
have pierced my hands and my feet.
Psalms 22: 12-16
Christian scholars all agree that this
passage, this Psalm is speaking of Jesus. As I often do, I like to
go back and read the entire passage for context, because you can not
understand God's word outside of its context. I won't take the time
here to expound too much on the context, but would encourage you to
read the whole Psalm and ask yourself the question, if this is
about Jesus, then how exactly is his cry for help answered?
From the embolden words above you see
that he was to die. You also see that he was to suffer prior to his
death. Okay I get it. So why was God showing me this yesterday?
I was rushing to my friend's side to
pray and worship with the family. We were praying for his healing.
His nieces had worked up a prayer vigile where he would be prayed for
every hour on the hour starting at midnight that night. A lot of us
were fasting and praying, believing God would come through in spite
of what the doctors said. We believed he would be healed from the
pain and misery of his cancer racked body.
The passage goes on to give you his cry
for help, for God's deliverance:
“But you, O Lord, be not far off; O
my Strength, come quickly to help me. Deliver my life from the
sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from
the mouth of lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.”
Psalms 22: 19 -21
But did God do this for Jesus? Did God
come quickly to help him? Did God deliver him from the sword, his
precious life from the power of the dogs? Did he rescue him from the
mouth of lions?
Our seminary professors would often
remind us to not take on more than we can chew, and I am dangerously
teetering on the edge of doing that. But please hang in there with
me. It is often times in struggling with the hard questions that we
come up with a greater life changing truth. And as is the case in
scripture, the truth is found in the word. Read on.
“I will declare your name to my
brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.” Psalm 22:22
What a statement of affirmation! What
a statement of faith! Oh that I could declare his name to my
brothers! Oh that I could rise from my bed of affliction (a big word
preachers like to use that just means pain and sickness) to sing
forth the praises to God! Wow!
But did this happen for Jesus? Or did
he not die?
The passage clearly stated that God
laid him down in the dust of death. He died. My friend and brother
died last night too.
So if all scripture is true, then how
is this passage true? How was his faith answered? To get that
understanding we have to ask ourselves a question: which
congregation is he standing in? which congregation is he singing his
praises with his brothers in?
We desired that our friend and loved
one last night stay in this land, a land which we wrongly describe as
the land of the living. But that description hides or belies the
fact that our true life is a life that is eternal. The place where
we are currently living would more properly be described as the land
of the dieing. See from the very first breath we take on this earth
we begin the process of dieing. Our life is only found in Christ and
it is only in his presence that we truly experience life. Remember
Jesus's words: “I come that you might have life and that more
abundantly!” (look it up). His is a life that is based in the
eternal well spring of the Holy Spirit. He empowers us. He
lifts us up. He heals us and equips us. He teaches us all things.
He gives us understanding and wisdom is found in Him. And all of
this is simply our touching the immortal God, allowing his eternal
character to live within us, His eternal life to reign within our
eternal spirits . . . while we live in the land of the dieing.
The congregation the writer speaks is
the congregation before God. A congregation that we are also a part
of here as His children through His spirit. See my brother did not
leave me. He stands in the same congregation that I do, only now a
little closer to the throne without all the hangups of sin that I
have, without the burden of day by day dieing.
The passage goes on to express praise
and glory to the father. It goes on to instruct us, “you who fear
the Lord, praise him!” (vs23). It further goes on to assure us
that “he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the
afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened
to his cry for help.” (vs 24).
Last night my brother passed when all
the family stepped out of the room to allow the nurses to attend to
him for a moment. It was as if he did not want to hurt the family in
seeing him take his last dieing breath. But just as he took his last
dieing breath on this earth he took his first living breath in the
very presence of the congregation of the Lord! A breath that did
not have any pain attached to it at all.
We focus on the death. God focuses on
the life. Yes, Jesus died, but one could say his greatest work was
done in his rising from the dead, in his resurrection. His life in
the land of the dieing was only about 33 years. His life in the
congregation of the saints is an eternity!
Read the rest of the Psalm and see if
it is not true of the Christ we serve. Indeed the Psalm ends with
the words: “They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet
unborn – for he has done it.” (vs 31)
God was trying to prepare me for my
brother's transfer from the land of the dieing to the land of the
living. I did not see it at the time, when those words leaped off
the pages yesterday. But today I am beginning to understand. The
psalmist wrote “Show me, O Lord, my life's end and the number of my
days; let me know how fleeting is my life.” Psalm 39:4.
Yes our life is short, like Jesus's was
here in the land of the dieing. But our life is eternal in the land
of the living.
This day may you make your decisions in
light of the understanding of the eternal life awaiting you, so that
you may be in the presence of Christ, in all fullness of life,
abundance of joy, and freedom from sin, pain, misery and disease.
My brother did and last night he heard
the words, “Welcome home my good and faithful servant come on in.”
He is dancing before the Lord today, in the congregation which we
are all a part of through His Holy Spirit both here and for an
eternity.
Love yah,
dad
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