03.04. CHAPTER 04 - GOD WILL BE WITH YOU IN DEATH'S VALLEY
CHAPTER 04 - GOD WILL BE WITH YOU IN DEATH’S VALLEY “Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. Jesus asked her,`Woman why are you weeping?’” (John 20:11).
Jesus knew why Mary was weeping. But I think He was asking her (as we would ask our child), “Why do you need to weep?” There is no need to weep when Jesus is near us.
Jesus Himself wept at the tomb of Lazarus. He knew that Lazarus would be raised from the dead. But He wept because of the terrible state mankind had come to, because of sin. But death has now has lost its sting – ever since Jesus rose from the grave.
One childhood memory that stands out vividly in my mind is that of a mother wailing for her dead children. In the town where I grew up, there was a poor woman whose house had collapsed after heavy rains, and her two teen-aged sons had been killed in that calamity. We passed by her broken-down shack on our way to school and saw the bodies of the boys who never woke up from their sleep that morning. That devastated mother was calling out to them hysterically, in sorrow and anguish, as if to waken them. But it was in vain. She knew they were dead. Every onlooker was moved to tears. God cares for such mothers too, who have lost all hope.
Recently on our national holiday a terrible earthquake destroyed whole towns in Gujarat. What a lot of weeping there must have been in those regions. How many were orphaned and rendered homeless in a matter of seconds! Earthquakes are not necessarily God’s punishment. When a tower fell down in Siloam in the time of Jesus, He said that those who died were not more sinful than others. He warned us that in the last days there would be wars, famines and earthquakes. So earthquakes only remind us that our Lord’s coming is near. We must repent and be alert and pray. We must pray earnestly for our land of India that the Lord will be merciful to this land which is so steeped in idolatry.
Mary Magdalene had been grieving like all the others who loved Jesus, when He was cruelly crucified. She went early that Sunday morning, after the sabbath, to have a glimpse of the body of Jesus, to embalm it and to weep at the tomb.
One way to get over our sorrow is to weep. We should not stifle our tears.
Mary Magdalene was the first one to see the Lord after His resurrection. How thrilled she must have been when she recognized Jesus and when He spoke to her! She had no more tears of sorrow after that! Jesus then commissioned her to go and tell His disciples that He was alive and would meet them too. After all this, Mary still continued to be the same humble, ordinary sister that she had always been in the early church. She did not promote herself as the first one to see the risen Lord. She remained in the background. It was the once-fearful apostles whom the Lord would use for all the public ministry in the church. What an example Mary Magdalene is for us sisters. Even when the Lord gives us wonderful revelation, let Him and the church get all the glory.
Dear sister, in your sorrow, think of Jesus who wept at Lazarus’ grave. Think of Mary who wept. It’s all right for us to cry when a loved one departs from this world.
It takes time for us to get over such intense sorrow. But we are not to grieve like the ungodly people in the world. Screaming and wailing, speaking words that bring dishonour to God and questioning God, must never be found in us at any time.
I have heard people curse God at funerals and it has made me feel like leaving the place. The heathen should know that we have a living hope for the future.
Those who die in the Lord have gone immediately into the presence of the Lord. Because Jesus rose again from the dead, we have a glorious hope for the future.
Sometimes the hardest thing to deal with is the question of whether our loved one who passed away is eternally lost or not. We must finally leave this question with the Lord. The secret things belong to the Lord. No human being can answer that question for us. Don’t ever go to fortune-tellers, or to even so-called “prophets” to find out the answers to such questions. The Lord has warned us never to do such things (See Deuteronomy 18:10-12). Only the Lord can help us overcome our grief. Be careful that you do not fall into the mire of discouragement. That can harm you emotionally, mentally and spiritually. You might even stumble others with your speculations. You may meet that loved one in heaven and regret all the time you wasted - time when you should have gone on with the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:1-58 is a good chapter to get comfort from, when we weep for a departed loved one.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 is another passage that tells us why we need not grieve as others do:“We do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of {the} archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). The risen Lord said to John, “Fear not, I am the First and the Last, the Living one; I died, and I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death (Revelation 1:17-18).
“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou are with me” (Psalms 23:4).
Romans 8:38 tells us that even death cannot separate us from God’s love.
Dear mother, you may be weeping as you think of one of your children who has gone ahead of you to heaven. But think of how happy he/she is today, free from all disability, and enjoying the company of Jesus and the angels. Your child is waiting there to welcome you too one day. So weep no more. Here is a poem of a child of God who went to be with the Lord, speaking to his loved ones on earth:
IF YOU COULD SEE WHERE I HAVE GONE If you could see where I am now - the beauty of this place - And how it feels to know you’re home and see the Saviour’s face; To live in peace and know no fear - just joy beyond compare!
While down on earth you miss me now, you wouldn’t want me there.
If you could see where I have come, and made the trip with me, You’d know I didn’t come alone - the Saviour came with me.
He travelled with me by my side and held me by my hand, And brought me right into His home - this grand and glorious land.
If you could see where I am now, and see what I’ve been shown, You’d never know another fear, or ever feel alone.
You’d marvel at the care of God - His hand on every life - And realize He really cares and bears with us each strife.
If you could see where I am now - where God is always near - You’d see how He just longs for all to find their way up here.
You’d see He grieves when one is lost, His heart is filled with pain; And you would see His joy at last when one comes home again.
If you could see where I am now, could stay awhile with me - Could share the things that God has made to grace eternity - You’d never, ever want to leave, once heaven’s joys you’ve known;
You’d never want to walk earth’s paths, once heaven was your home.
If you could see where I am now, you’d know we’ll meet some day And though I’m parted from you now, that I am just away. And now that I am home with Him, secure in every way, I’m waiting here at heaven’s door to greet you some sweet day.
(Author Unknown) What a glorious hope we have as Christians!