A day ago at this time, she was still there...Now, her room is empty, the house quiet. You will never hear her calling your name again. The pain in your chest is so much, you want to cry out. At times, you do. When you wake up, you remember. She is gone, forever.
When a close friend's mom dies and it seems like you can feel her pain, the best place to look for answers is the Bible. It is, after all, a book about life and death. The preacher in Ecclesiastes knows our uncertainty about these matters: "(man) does not know what will happen...who can tell him when it will occur? The living know that they will die" (Eccles 8:7,8 and 9:5)
What he says next is quite startling, unexpected. "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting for that is the end of all men. And the living will take it to heart." He goes even further: "Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better (or pleasing)."
The prayer in Psalm 90:12 confirms this. Lord, please teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. A heart of wisdom is one that seeks the Lord. It is quite obvious that the Lord allows death and mourning so that we can take it to heart, so that our hearts can be made pleasing for the Lord as we seek Him.
Men, women, young girls and even children will die. That is, however, not the end. The writer to the Hebrews put it like this: "And it is appointed for men to die once, and after this the judgement, SO Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many." Whenever someone dies, we need to look again at Christ's death. He died so that we could live.
No wonder the preacher says that it is good to be in the house of mourning. We can expect to find Christ there. Waiting, still, to impart His life to save ours.
"For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death." 2 Cor 7:10
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