I have to write. Writing helps me process my emotions, helps me to…think.
I have been reading the bible according to the Professor Horner Reading Plan. Not as diligently as I would like I am sorry to say. I picked up where my trusty bookmarks were and in today’s reading I read Psalm 116.
Psalm 116 1 I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. 2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. 3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. 4 Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!” 5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. 6 The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. 7 Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. 8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. 10 I believed, even when I spoke: “I am greatly afflicted”; 11 I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.” 12 What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, 14 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. 16 O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. 17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, 19 in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!Normally, as per the plan, I do not read the notes nor do I read the Theological Notes (longer sections on a particular topic) that are in my Reformed Study Bible.
But today… today I read about the preciousness of the death of the saints in the Lord’s sight.
This was in the notes, “Their deaths, like their lives, are significant and important to God.”
I will not transcribe all the Theological Note: Death and the Intermediate State, but will write this portion:
“At death the souls of believers are made perfect in holiness and enter into the worshiping life of heaven. In a word, they are glorified. Some have not accepted this, but teach instead that there is a purgatorial discipline after death amounting to a further stage of sanctification. In this purgatory the soul is prepared over a period of time, to be purified for the vision of God. This doctrine is not found in the bible. The saints living on earth at Christ’s coming will be perfected morally to be with Him in the moment when their body is transformed (1 Cor. 15:51-54), and it seems that Paul, and the thief on the cross, expected the same admission to God’s presence. Others say that believes pass into a soul-sleep and are unconscious between death and resurrection. The Bible, however, consistently represents the departed as conscious 9Luke 16:22; 23:43; Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:8; Rev. 6:9-11; 14:13).
In itself to be without the body is a disadvantage; we live through our bodies, and to be without a body is to be limited and impoverished. Paul longs to be ‘clothed’ with the resurrection body, and wants not at all the be ‘unclothed’ (2 cor. 5:4). The resurrection of the body is a distinctive Christian hope confessed by every branch of the church on earth.
Death is decisive for destiny. The Bible does not teach that after death there is another possibility of salvation for the lost (Luke 16:26; Heb. 9:27). After death, both the godly and the ungodly reap what they sowed in this world (Gal. 6:7, 8).”
Two weeks ago, the sermon was about signs to know if you were saved.
These two things, (the sermon and my reading with the theology notes) give me great comfort. I was able to think back on all the signs in my beloved husband’s life that point to his being saved and I know where he is… Alive with Christ.
Alive with Christ
& much beloved
That is the inscription engraved upon his headstone. I should be able to go see it in a couple of weeks.
There is great comfort in sound theology!
Blessings, ~Aunt Mae
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
I found your blog through a blogging friend. I am grieved to hear about your loss, and wish I could do more than simply spout mere words in a comment box upon a computer screen. Though I don’t know you, please try and remember during your days that there is a human soul on the other side of this computer screen that will be keeping you and your son in her thoughts and prayers. I’ll also add you to my blog roll as well. I would love to “get to know you” and become your new blogging friend.
May the Lord always protect and provide for you throughout your days upon this earth.
{{{{Hugs}}}}
http://homemaking-interludes.blogspot.com
Dearest An Ordinary Housewife,
Thank you for visiting my humble corner of the internet. I pray your time here was a blessing to you.
Thank you so much for your words of sympathy. It may seem strange, but each and every comment of sympathy has been a source of comfort to me. Each and every commitment to pray for us is a blessing to me and a balm to my heart.
Funny you should mention the aspect that *there is a human soul on the other side of the computer screen*… for that is how I view each comment, as a real person who has deemed it worth his time to spend a few minutes here.
I would love to be your new blogging friend! That is the one aspect of blogging that surprised me… the wonderful people I have *met* and become friends with.
Wow, Aunt Mae, powerful words in Psalm 116 and from the notes. Great comfort, indeed!
What beautiful words for the headstone. *love*
Hello JacquelineB,
I am finding deep solace in God’s word and a measure of comfort from God’s people.
I had limited space for a *message* on my beloved’s headstone. Just as a funeral is not for the departed but for the living, so is a headstone. I also was thinking genealogically… and wanted future generations to know there were saved members in the family and this man was very loved by his family. Just thinking on these things makes me cry. It reminds me of Psalm 71:18
Psalm 71
1 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
3 Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been as a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all the day.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me;
those who watch for my life consult together
11 and say, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize him,
for there is none to deliver him.”
12 O God, be not far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!
13 May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who seek my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more.
15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for their number is past my knowledge.
16 With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.
17 O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
19 Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.
22 I will also praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have redeemed.
24 And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been put to shame and disappointed
who sought to do me hurt.
The Word is alive today and so full of what we need. I am glad you are finding comfort within Its pages. Still praying for you Mae.
What Is Dying
I am standing upon that foreshore, a ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, “there! she’s gone!”
“Gone where?” “Gone from my sight, that’s all”, she is just as large in mast and spar and hull as ever she was when she left my side; just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at that moment when someone at my side says, “there! she’s gone!” there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “here she comes!”
And that is dying.
Bishop Brent
Hello my dear friend!
Thank you for the beautiful picture of the reality of death for a Christian. I may not see my beloved now, but as he went far away from my view he was going to heaven to be with Christ, and I shall see him again one day. Thank you!!
(((Mae))) What a beautiful passage. May God’s word continue to be your great comfort. I love the headstone inscription. I am praying for you now.
Hello my sweet friend,
Thank you for your love and prayers. They mean a great deal and bring a wonderful source of comfort to me.
Dear Mae,
It’s a blessing to read these words. Sound theology sure is a comfort! I often think of you as I go through my day, and I pray that God will continue to comfort you and provide everything you need.
Love,
Janet
My heart was heavy for you last night when I read you would not get any money for your son since he is not legally adopted. Nor would you get any because of your age I think. I was so distraught I may have that wrong. My heart breaks for you all. Oh how I wish I could help you with a big donation to ease this pain. PRAYING it all works out very soon. We do have to have money to live in this world.
If things are not made right before we leave this world we are lost. Pain and simple.
BLESSINGS!!!!
Alive with Christ and Much Beloved–it is perfect. I know that was a matter of much prayer, and God clearly directed it.
God is indeed a comfort, as is sound theology.
My heart hurts so much for you–I wish it could come through with typewritten words. I am so inadequate. But I continue to pray for you.
{{{hugs}}}
Love, Jill J
Hi! I’m new to your site. Our mutual friend, Gail, referred me here; and, I am so glad for it! You are such a sweetheart, & this post was a blessing! Praying for you.
Oh Aunt Mae…my heart has broken for you a hundred times since I learned of your loss and heavens gain. I will continue to pray for you. Remembering you in my prayers~
You are in our hearts and prayers, dear Mae! What a comfort the promises of Scripture are to us when we are grieving.
I found your blog through another blogger, and I’ve been enjoying your archives. I am so deeply sorry to hear of your loss. I know that this must be a difficult and painful time for you. You and your family will be in my prayers tonight.
It was only after my dear daughter Mae’s husband died that I started following Facebook. I am new to blogging and have so enjoyed reading all the blogs and all the love and prayers toward Mae.
Mae’s writings have moved me more than words can say. Her forte’ is not only creating things but she is a wonder writer. I would call her a “Wordsmith”.
Many prayers and love go out to Mae and Arrow.
Thank you for your kind words about my simple writing.
I am so sorry to hear about your husband. I will be praying for you and yours, that you may be comforted and feel the love and peace the Savior has for each of us.
Thank you Courtney.