I just learned today that some friends of ours lost their unborn baby at 27 weeks.\u00a0 In the words of my friend, their \u201chearts are shattered.\u201d\u00a0 At the same time, another friend\u2019s wife is steadily approaching the doorway between this life and the next.\u00a0 On top of all that, a third friend with a terminal illness is grappling with saying goodbye to his wife and daughters as God\u2019s call home becomes louder and louder.<\/p>\n
I hate death.\u00a0 I hate its grip on us.\u00a0 I hate its power to steal our joy and rob our hope.\u00a0 And as my heart struggles to rise amidst all of this sadness, I have been trying to put my finger on a few things.\u00a0 While the finality of death is staggering and tragic, there seems to be much more to the grief it brings.\u00a0 Several days of thoughts swimming in circles in my head have led me to this conclusion.\u00a0 Death is the culmination of the terrifying fear that lives inside us all. The fear that we are alone.\u00a0 The fear that at the end of the day, we will find ourselves painfully and unmistakably alone.\u00a0 Furthermore, I believe it is that very fear that drives us to God.\u00a0 We were never created to be alone.\u00a0 From the very beginning, we were made and intended to live amidst community, both divine and human.\u00a0 Therefore, when death robs us of our inmost need, our innate ache to walk hand in hand with those around us, it is like a betrayal.\u00a0 We pour ourselves into relationships, into friendships, into marriages, and we derive immeasurable comfort from the safety we find there.\u00a0 And then death comes raging in and we are suddenly lost.\u00a0 We are suddenly alone.<\/p>\n
But there is something magnificent that happens in death.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t call it so much a consolation as a glorious display of grace.\u00a0 Currently, our friends who lost their baby have 147 comments and messages on their Facebook walls.\u00a0 Our friend who is grieving the imminent loss of his wife has an email update and prayer distribution list that has dozens and dozens of recipients.\u00a0 And our friend formulating his farewells has seen friends from all avenues of his life rush to his side with comfort and strength.\u00a0 And I am amazed at this juxtaposition.\u00a0 It would seem that as death approaches, relentless and unforgiving, it is at this very moment that the body of Christ comes magnificently to life.\u00a0 As earthly death creeps in and creates a paralyzing vacuum, God overflows our lives with community and love.\u00a0 As death inhales our hope and joy, God exhales grace, strength, and comfort through His hands and feet on this earth.\u00a0 And in that magnificent instant, in that breathtaking display of mercy, death\u2019s threat of aloneness and isolation loses a bit of its sting.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that the grief goes away.\u00a0 It\u2019s still there, powerful and gripping.\u00a0 But amidst the loss, there is a flood of fellowship, communion and solidarity that moves us graciously towards healing.<\/p>\n
I hate death.\u00a0 But I love the way God\u2019s family responds.\u00a0 I love the uprising and stirring of hearts that occurs.\u00a0 I am humbled by the tears shed in the name of someone else\u2019s pain.\u00a0 I am moved by the weeping and petitioning that ripples through the church. And I am in awe of the transformation that the body of Christ undergoes as it moves swiftly and profoundly to fill the void that death leaves behind.\u00a0 There is no consolation when death is involved.\u00a0 God knows its power far better than we do.\u00a0 But what a kind and sovereign Lord we have that He would see our grief and provide divine countermeasures that assure us that we are loved, that we are safe, and, most importantly, that we are not alone.<\/p>\n