September 13, 2022

Psalm 116: 15 (NIV)

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of living too long.*

Someone aptly put into words my thoughts as I sat through another session of prayer requests for sick old people: sometimes we seem to be praying the saints out of heaven. None of us wants to say good-bye to our beloved parents and grandparents. We certainly don’t want them to suffer. But asking God to prolong their lives is for our benefit more than theirs. Apparently, God likes it when his saints die.

Before we charge off and tell our old and dying loved ones that it’s time for them to go, let’s examine the psalmist’s words more closely and then look at how we might pray more appropriately for the infirm saints.

 

The writer does not mention age. The death of a saint of any age is precious in the Lord’s sight. No matter how, when, or where they pass, God welcomes them home. The death of a saint may be precious to the Lord but so is his life. If we think of the word precious in terms of value; and if we consider life and death in God’s terms, we begin to better understand the psalmist’s point. From our perspective, death is the end of life, but from God’s point of view, death is merely a continuation of life. We shouldn’t picture God as rejoicing because Granny died; we should see his delight in the next stage of her life – the one that will never end.

So how should we pray for the suffering saint on his deathbed? The same way we pray for everyone and everything else: according to God’s will (I John 5: 14) and in Jesus’ name (John 14: 13). You may not be ready to give up your loved one but God is ready to comfort and sustain you when you suffer loss. Let him. Your life is precious to him.

Death could be the loneliest event of all, but for a believer it leads to a family reunion.*