Blessed [are] those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
[Mat 5:4 NKJV]
Today we noticed that the duck that had been nesting in our backyard was gone. Yesterday we saw what appeared to be eggs outside the nest. She was still on the nest last night, but today the mother duck was gone. We read that often eggs are either not viable or get taken by predators while the mother duck is off getting food. Our hearts were broken because mother duck had become part of our routine – looking out the window at her and praying for her and her unhatched eggs.
Maybe getting that attached to an animal from nature is strange, but mother duck is one of God’s creations, and we fell in love with her from a distance. The loss of her eggs, and no longer having her in our yard, created a hole in our hearts. We will cope but we feel the loss.
How much do we think God feels the loss when He loses one of His creations to evil? He gave us free will, but it can’t be easy for Him when He sees a person pass away without Him in their hearts. When a believer passes we know their spirit is forever with the Lord.
We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
[2 Co 5:8]
However, those who pass without giving their lives to Christ will be forever apart from God.
They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.
[2 Th 1:9]
God does not want anyone to perish eternally [Mat 18:14]. He loves every person. That’s why the shepherd will leave the 99 to go after the one lost. [Mat 18:12] Only through Christ can we have that eternal life, though. God doesn’t force us.
We can’t even begin to know God’s thoughts [1 Co 2:11], but since we are made in His image, and He gave us emotions, I wonder if He hurts when He loses one of us eternally. Or, maybe He only feels anger – anger that His creation rejected Him. [Heb 4:3]
As believers in Christ we mourn when we lose a loved one. We mourn even more when we are not certain of that loved one’s salvation. That’s why we continue to pray for those who have yet to find Christ.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
[Rom 1:16 NKJV]
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Prayer Day 75: Grieved