Devotion 7
Precious in His Sight
I didn't want to hear about it.
Not again.
Not more shooting.
Not more death.
Not more young people wiped out in the insanity of killing.
This was on top of the death of five youths, ages 14-20, in my extended
circle since May: four in accidents, one from natural causes.
Last week in a Fort Worth, Texas, Baptist church four of the seven
killed at the scene were 14 years old. After terrorizing, maiming, and
killing, the assassin rolled a pipe bomb down the aisle of the church and
then shot himself in the head in front of his terrorized victims.
When I finally had the courage to watch the news, Peggy Wemeyer, a
Christian religion reporter for ABC News followed the trail of blood
involving Christian teens:
- Young people shot as they gathered in prayer around the flagpole at their school;
- Two young women shot after they refused to deny their faith in God during the Columbine massacre; and
- These young teens shot down by a madman who came after them in the sanctuary of their church.
I go to the verse: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." (Psalms 16:15) Young or old, they were his saints. And I have to remember that they were His, after all.
I remember Job's brave words: "The Lord gives and the takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21). But we're never ready to let go, especially of a young person.
What is at the heart of this for me? What does God want me to understand, to accept? I think it is the reality that I have only one day at time. Young or old, that is the reality. My goals, my dreams, my opportunities can be gone in an instant.
It reminds me that I have to keep my fences mended with those I love. I have to keep my life in order.
David wrote these words in Psalms 90:12: "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." God teaches me something else through all of this. I have a role in holding up the families and friends left behind. Some of them are so shell shocked that they cannot pray for themselves. I know the Holy Spirit prays for us when we have no words of our own, but the Apostle Paul challenges us to be a part of the prayer power. I can pray for them — and I should.
(Ephesians 6:18)
I certainly would need those prayers if I were faced with a crushing separation from someone I love.
There's another reality for me to cling to: Believers among these family members and friends have hope: Christ has conquered sin and death. "Oh, death where is they sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (I Corinthians 15:55-57)
It's wonderful the way the Lord ministers to our souls. As I listened to a music video this week, words from "My Saviour First of All" reached deep into my spirit with
- comfort
- and joy
- and a surge of trust in God's sovereignty, his love, his wisdom, and his absolutely perfect timing regardless of how things seem to me:
"I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side, And His smile will be the first to welcome me.
"I shall know Him, I shall know Him, And redeemed by His side I shall stand, I shall know Him, I shall know Him By the prints of the nails in His hands." *
For Further Consideration:
I Corinthians 15
Job 1:18-22
John14:1-4, 15-18
Psalms 90:12, 17
* "My Saviour First of All," by Fanny J Cosby (words) and Jno. R. Sweeney.
©Jno. R. Sweeney 1891.
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