D.L.

Funerals. We do not talk about funerals often, but we should. I believe it is the time when we are so close to death and yet maybe so far. We can only look at death from the side of the living, wondering when it will be our time and how it is going to be like. It is a fact of life and nature.

For some death is only the beginning and for others, it is the end. Death is going to happen, whether we like it or not. Some of us are waiting for it with eager anticipation due to illness and old age. Others are so sad, disappointed, and depressed about this life that is a heavy burden to carry on, and they look at death as a way out. But it is not.
I have done many funerals, and it is always a painful experience. I am allowed to enter into the suffering of others and bring comfort. It is a humbling experience, but I have seen the Lord bringing much comfort and peace.

Every funeral has made a mark on me, from a young baby boy to an older man who passed away a week before his ninety-three years and to the young man recently who got engaged and passed away suddenly in a tragic accident.

Comfort comes when we believe that the Word of God is alive, when we realize that God also knows about suffering, loss and death. He was there when his Son Jesus died. God’s comfort is a miracle, it is supernatural, we experience it when we allow our suffering to connect with the God of all comfort and compassion, who comes alongside us and cries with us. Jesus wept when his friend Lazarus was dead.

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.”
(1 Thessalonians 4,16-18 NLT-SE)

Paul wrote these words so that we can be encouraged and to encourage one another when we face death, or attend a funeral, saying goodbye to a family member, friend, brother, and sister in the Lord. He reminds us of a bigger and better picture, a place that awaits us and where death is no longer relevant but defeated. We are meant to live forever; not even death can hold us back. Thanks be to Him, who defeated the power of death, and we are alive in Him.