A Word of Comfort

It has been almost a year since our son Sam died. I have this picture of him in my office. Notice his posture. Sam is not worried. He is laid back, relaxed, focused on something other than Covid-19. Sam was a good man. He had a good heart. He loved deeply, and he was loved.

More than twenty years ago now I was standing in the SonSpot, Ocean City, Maryland, during a worship session. They were all worship sessions. As I stood over to the side, I opened a Bible at random to Isaiah 40. Now may be an appropriate time to share this excerpt, especially verses 6-8:

“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God…. 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; 5 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

6 The voice said, “Cry out!” And he said, “What shall I cry?”

“All flesh is grass, And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”

At the time I thought this was a strange message of comfort: You’re going to die, you’re going to die, you’re going to die! I know some people are scared now because they don’t know what Coronavirus might bring.

So what is it like in heaven? In the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray, one phrase was “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” If you’ve read Revelation, you know there is a lot of praising on the other side. It’s good to set your heart on things above, to start praising now to bring heaven to earth, at least in your little corner of the world.