LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Looking at Death Face to Face
"There is scarcely a step between me and death" (1 Samuel 20:3).
Many servants of God lived experiences in which they saw death face to face. Joseph, in the pit into which his brothers threw him; Moses, while fleeing from Egypt; Jeremiah, in the foul-smelling cistern; Daniel's friends, in the furnace; Daniel, in the lions' den; Paul, in the city of Damascus, from which he fled unhooked in a basket.
"There is scarcely a step between me and death", says David, the newly anointed king, surrounded by enemies, the chief of whom sat on Israel's own throne. David's life, in those early years, is full of shocks and flight, of surprise attacks and tears. The cause?
The apostle Paul gives the precise explanation, referring to his own experience: "We had in ourselves a sentence of death, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead" (2 Cor. 1:9). There is no theory or doctrine that teaches better than a borderline experience what every man of God should know about the frailty of man and the providence of God. This is an indispensable lesson that everyone needs to learn.
How would they truly know that God raises the dead, if they had never been under sentence of death? Can it be learned only by reading the story of the raising of Lazarus? No, the truth about Jesus Christ as Resurrection and Life can only be learned when someone is raised from the dead.
At some point in life, God, who loves his children, will prepare everything for them to learn this lesson. Then a sudden threat will arise, a conflict or a disease, in short, something that throws them over the precipice. Then everything is reversed and changed. Then they look for help, desperate. But nothing around them can sustain them; no one can help them. Black forebodings oppress the heart.
Then they reach out for promises; they remember the mercies of old, but still they seem so far away. What or who can save them? And a long time passes, a long time (perhaps not so long, but it seems so to them). Then suddenly, thank God, a Hand takes hold of them, and lifts them up. It is the same hand that held Peter when he was sinking in the sea. Yes, it is necessary to know the face of death, its frightening reality, in order to love more the face of the One who is able to free us from evil.