I have struggled with the topic of death for a long time, to the point that I have felt my faith on the subject has fallen short. Most of us have experienced death at least at some point in our lives. For me, I have dealt with it more than I would like. My best friend died when I was only 11 years old. She was in a fatal car wreck and the life of her mother was also taken that day. My sister had a miscarriage quite a few years back. The anger and confusion from losing a baby is hard to describe. My cousin committed suicide when I was seventeen years old. I could get into the feelings suicide evokes, but that would probably take up its own separate blog. And most recently my papa's life was taken by a very aggressive cancer, which is such an ugly ugly disease. Those are just a few examples of the more impacting experiences with death I have had, but as we all know there is death around us all every single day.
The overwhelming feeling I have been left with after all of these though has been the same and that is the question of why? I have struggled with death for so long because I just never understood how God could let these horrible things happen. If he has the power to heal why doesn't he? If he has control over everything, why doesn't he stop things from happening? A lot of people say, "everything happens for a reason" and "it's just part of God's plan." I am sorry, but I think that is a bunch of bull. People may think they are helping, but I refuse to believe that our God is a God that would "plan" for my 11 year old friend to die by a car being smashed into a tree. Or that he intended for my sister's unborn baby to be taken from us before we even got to meet. I do not believe my cousin was meant to take his own life. And I certainly don't believe that God planned for my papa to beat lung and brain cancer only to be taken by a leukemia in his blood. But then I am left with the same question....if these things are not part of His plan, then why do they happen?
With my papa passing recently, my struggle with this has really been brought to a forefront and to be honest I still wasn't really sure what I believed....until today. My pastor preached a sermon on death and he really helped something click. It clicked enough that I wanted to share and I hope you will take the time to read and share the experience with me.
First off, death was not originally supposed to be a part of our world. When sin came into this world evil and death entered with it. "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). It is a fact that we live in a sin filled flawed world and that someday we all are going to die. That doesn't bring much comfort in time of grief, but it is because of this that bad things happen. Sometimes, a lot of times, to the people who we perceive deserve it the least. However, I do believe that our God can bring good out of any situation if we allow Him to. We just get so caught up in this temporary life that we forget God's intention for us is so much more. We were not meant to live in this world forever....that is one thing I can say with certainty is how God planned it to be.
The story our pastor used as an example was the story of Lazarus. Lazarus had two sisters, Mary and Martha. When Lazarus became ill they called to Jesus to heal him, but Jesus stayed where he was for two additional days before responding to their request. In this time, Lazarus died. When Jesus finally arrived Mary and Martha were angry. The way they felt, I imagine, is how I have felt in the past when I have lost someone I love. I felt sad, mad, confused. I wanted to scream at Jesus "WHERE WERE YOU?! If you had been here this wouldn't have happened, so the only conclusion is that you didn't show up when I needed you." In fact Martha says pretty much this exact thing. "Martha said (to Jesus) if you had been here my brother would not have died" (John 11: 21). There were many ways Jesus could have responded to this statement, and to be honest had it been me in His position I probably would have been a bit more snarky. But, our God is a God of patience and He calmly replied, "Dear Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die" (John 11:25). Jesus is saying to Martha, don't you see? Your brother did not die. He is more alive now than ever!
The greek word for death is thanatos, which means separation. Who we are isn't our body. Our spirit and soul are the makeup that comprise who we are, our bodies are simply their temporary home. To be absent from this body is not to be dead, but to be present with the Lord. We really do not die at all, we separate into who we are truly supposed to be. This is the version of ourselves God always intended for us to be, but through sin this plan was changed. God then found a way for us to leave this sin filled flawed world and join Him for eternal life in heaven. "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have ever lasting life" (John 3:16).
So that brings me back to my question of why do people die? Well, what I learned today is that no one really dies in the fact that they cease to exist...people separate from this life into the next because God is such a great God that despite our sins and the fact that we will always fall short, He has made a way for us to live perfectly with Him forever. While we are still left on earth to miss the loved ones we have lost, the day they die should be worth more celebration than the day they were born, for that is the day they begin to truly live.
