Death Is Never OK

My heart pounds in my chest. The terror of death assaults me.
 Fear and trembling overwhelm me, and I can’t stop shaking. Psalm 55: 4-5

Death is never OK. Those words were spoken to me days after my son, Azaiah, died. Death is never OK. There is nothing OK, nothing good, nothing lovely in death. Death is horror.

I know what death looks like. I know what death smells like. I know what death feels like in my hands. I know what death feels like in my heart. It is horror.

Azaiah’s death was not OK. It is a horror that I never would have asked for. I never would have planned this. But the God I serve did.

But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him.  But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.  King David said this about him: “I see that the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.”

Death is horror, but death is not all-powerful. Death is not all-encompassing. Death is not victorious. Death could not keep Jesus in its grip.

Because I choose to be anchored in that truth I will say, “I see that the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me!”

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” John 8:12