God's Providence, Part 2

On August 15th, my great grandmother passed away.

On Tuesday, one of my best friend's granddad passed away.

Why, Lord, why? Why me? Why them? Why did you have to take away these people that I love so much away from me? I'm so young, God. How come I've had to lose so many?

All of these thoughts have crossed my head very often in the past couple months. Of course, I know that the reason for death as a whole is sin. But that's not the necessary answer to the question: "Why me?" It still doesn't help when I think that God is just out to make me hurt as much as humanly possible. (That's obviously where I have problems. God's not a human. He can go way beyond the human possibilities.)

I think that I finally got hit in the head with the answer, though. God is not doing this to punish me. He's not doing it to make me sad. He's not doing it because he loves me less than any other person. He's taking these people home to be with him. Although it hurts for me, he's blessing them. He's taking away their pain. Their sorrow. Their suffering.

Yesterday, I was at my aforementioned friend's house. Her mom was reading out her eulogy to us. (The funeral was this morning.) All of a sudden, I ran to go get my Bible. My fingers flipped to the 21st chapter of Revelation. I read the first couple verses, and I was slapped in the face with happiness.

Revelation 21: 3-4: "And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."

It's certainly something to look forward to. After reading those verses, I was filled with a new anticipation of Heaven. And I realized... I should be happy. I should be glad that my great grandmother and friend's granddad had gone to be in this glorious, beautiful, amazing, spectacular place. That they will never again feel pain, or mourn, or cry, or experience death. And that soon, I will have that same happiness.

I do not believe that death is natural. God had never wanted for it to happen. It was because of man's selfish actions that it must be certain. Those who aren't perfect must experience pain- and death. But oh... Think of the supreme happiness we who love Christ will have after death. That all the believers that I've loved and lost are experiencing right now.

Revelation 22: 21, the last verse of the Bible, sums up one section of what I want you to walk away with. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."