Monday Morning Music Ministry

8-30-21

This week I called upon my personal prayer partners (not a closed group – adv.) to lift up a family of friends whose 16-year-old son had died suddenly of a brain aneurysm. Since I might minister in words in a small way, I also coveted prayers to fight through the fog of grief and anguish.

Christians never play one-upmanship in these circumstances, but a shared experience can be a palliative. A dear friend in Colorado has endured much, and wrote the line I use as the title of this essay. Actually her words were: “I am praying. I’ve written obituaries for my son, my daughter, my step mom, and now my little brother this year…. God is good but yes, life is terribly hard.”

The order of words has a shadow of meaning, but only as we recognize reflections of what our emotions see in our moments. Life is real, Longfellow wrote; life is earnest. But life ain’t nohow permanent, as Pogo Possum said. That is, God is eternal, and we are pilgrims and strangers passing through this world.

(Longfellow’s full quatrain was: “Life is real! Life is earnest! / And the grave is not its goal / Dust thou art, to dust thou returnest, / Was not spoken of the soul.”)

The service for Nehemiah, my young friend who died, was held this morning, as I write this. It was impressive and ultimately uplifting, as all “homegoing” services should be. A celebration. Nehemeiah is, after all, in the arms of Jesus – which was the fervent young believer’s goal and destination in his life.

Are we touched by irony? The degree of sadness and grief we experience when loved ones die, technically is selfish, no? We miss them; we think of what they could have been, where they might have traveled; we have only memories.

Well, these are not anomalies except in relation to our poor power to calibrate our lives to the ways of a God who loves us outrageously and with a depth and in ways we cannot fathom. But I am struck by another irony – speaking very personally, and asking your indulgence as I share theological questions during these days. AND I think, at the same time, of those lives lost in an instant in faraway Afghanistan.

Christians often speak at times like this of God “taking someone home,” and “God’s timing,” and “God’s purposes.” Speaking very personally, forgive me, but sometimes I wonder whether we occasionally give the devil a pass at certain moments. God welcomes His beloved home, of course. But “taking” them is something I struggle with.

It is the evil one who roams about as a roaring lion, seeking whom to kill and destroy and devour. There is evil in the world, the cause of sickness and disease, death and heartache. To acknowledge that a sovereign God “allows” things is a world of difference from what unfortunately many people persuade themselves to believe, especially in certain moments, that God ordains terrible things.

Theology that challenges us. But it is more useful – and correct, I believe – to rather turn to a proper exegesis of Romans 8:28: All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Yes, we must love God; yes, we must be attuned to His call on our lives. But this verse does NOT say that all things ARE good. Plainly, many things in life are not good – from a teen’s brain aneurysm to military personnel being killed by a car bomb as they help people escape to freedom. But it is our job to make all things work for good… for God’s glory; to the devil’s disgrace; to serve Jesus in the midst of trials. It is not the number of our days, but what we do in them, that matters. Jesus sacrificed all He had for us!

Yes, life is hard. But, yes, God is good.

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One of many uplifting moments in the service occurred when the question was asked, how many youth belonged to Bible Bee (a nationwide club and movement that challenges youth to memorize Scripture), as Nehemiah was a member. Perhaps 200 teens came forward, and sang a hymn. Joyfully.

Hope for tomorrow? Yes! How many communities have a young population with such spiritual dedication and commitment?

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I cannot fail to add – addressing sudden deaths at any age and by whatever cause – that we all must be ready at all times. Ready to receive salvation. Life is real; life is earnest, yes. This is a song (written in 1894) with a grim but loving reminder about our very lives being at stake. A few words from it… and please listen to the full vid clip:

I dreamed that the great judgment morning Had dawned and the trumpet had blown. I dreamed that the nations had gathered, To judgment before the White Throne.

And oh, what weeping and wailing As the lost were told of their fate, They cried for the rocks and the mountains, They prayed, but their prayers were too late

The great man was there, but his greatness When death came, was left far behind. The angel that opened the records, No trace of his greatness could find.

And the souls that had put off salvation Said “Not tonight, I’ll get saved by and by. No time now to think of religion” – But at last they’d found time to die.

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Click: The Great Judgment Morning