Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (2 Corinthians 1:3)
Last night as I lay in bed asleep, the phone rang. I don’t like calls in the night, because I dread hearing bad news. I answered, and it was. My brother, who God spared a few weeks back, succumbed to the damage done inside his body. Man! 28 December 2014, 1 July 2017, 3 July 2017, 9 August 2017, 6 June 2020, 19 December 2021, and now 15 March 2023. These dates are all representative of a family member passing from this life into the next. My mom, then three sisters in less than six weeks, now three brothers in three years. Our family of 15 is down to half. But we still have reason to praise our God. We have been comforted.
Long before we were born, God knew we would go through difficult times. He knew we would have hurts. He knew we could only continue with the hope of something to live for. In His love for us, He provided that hope. Hope that should be in His Son Jesus, who through His grace and mercy, offers us life after death. Romans 15:13 reads, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” I pray we’re all trusting in Him, so when our time comes to leave this place called earth, we can experience the beauty, joy, and peace of heaven with the Lord. None of us know when that time is. Ecclesiastes 3:1-10 reads, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; …” So, I encourage each of us to live today, like our time is tomorrow. Psalm 73: 25 tells us there is nothing on earth that God desire besides us. Become one of His today. “Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” (Psalm 31:24)
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