Ponderings about Death

Tonight one of the elders spoke to the congregation about death. Over the last week, he had two of his relatives to die. One of them was his uncle. He said the last time he spoke to his uncle, he talked to him about death and dying. His uncle knew that his time to die was very near...but he said that he was ready to die.

There is so much we don't know about death. What happens to us when we die? We know that the moment of death occurs when our soul leaves our body...but where exactly does our soul go? 2 Corinthians 5:8 says that when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord. But, in what capacity? Do we know where we are? Are we literally in the presence of our Lord? Or are we in a state of sleeping...of waiting until the end of the world as we know it? Are we aware of the passing of time? Are we aware of the presence of others among us?

This is but the beginning of questions...of things we would like to know. Some things we just don't have an answer for in the Bible. Why has God chosen not to reveal these things to us? I think about Corrie Ten Boom, of when she was a little girl and she wondered some of these same things. Her father asked her to carry his heavy suitcase. Corrie tried to carry it, but she was too small, and the suitcase was much too heavy. Her father told her that some knowledge is just too heavy for children to carry.

In the same way, when the time comes for us to die, God will give us what we need...He will be there to help us and we will know what to do. So, death is nothing to fear if we are an obedient child of God. It is something we should look forward to.