ListenDaily – 07 June 2010: An interlude; giving and taking away, in memory of Steven Lausier
We have been, and will continue tomorrow, studying how to listen to God. But, in listening to Him, I have been given a message I feel compelled to share.
This past Saturday, I attended a funeral, a celebration of life, which is sometimes a trite phrase, but in this case, it really was a celebration. I so appreciate the pastors of Grace Church in Dover, Delaware, as well as the young men and women who shared in the service for making it so. Steven Lausier was the 22 year-young man who had just a few days before left his family and a group of devoted friends, including my son Thomas, after a long battle with cancer.
During the service we sang Matt Redman's "Blessed Your Name", a beautiful song with great lyrics (below), with the singer choosing to bless God's Name, regardless of current circumstances. The song includes the lyrics: "You give and take away, You give and take away, my heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be Your name", which is taken from Job 1:21, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."
It struck me during the service, perhaps a nudge from the Holy Spirit, that we often hear "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away" concerning death, inferring that God has just taken someone away.
It made me think. It could be easy to be angry with God for taking Steven, if that is how we perceive it.
But, all the evil in this world, all the illnesses, all the bad stuff comes from the fact the we live in a fallen world, where man by choice, stepped away from the paradise God created for him. I am not trying to debate, or create a semantic argument here; I am just trying to offer a perspective that maybe, just maybe, we could see that God was giving here, not taking away. Or maybe, that He was taking away, but taking away something bad. Steven, like anyone who endured a long illness, was given a new life the day he left this one. He was given health, freedom from pain, and an eternity with his Savior. All the bad in his life was , in the twinkling of an eye, taken away.
That he was taken away from those who love him is due to the evil in the world, which causes death here to occur at all. God's initial perfect will would have been for us to have always lived with Him. It is vital that we remember that all God's gives is, perfect and anything He takes away is something we shouldn't have. That is not to say that you shouldn't have had Steven, but that you should no longer have him the way he was being forced to live. And in fact, you still have him, he has just relocated, and is waiting for you to join him. He is living now with all the good that the Lord "giveth", and without any of the bad stuff at all, for God has "taketh away" all the bad.
Questions:
1. How does this perspective strike you?
2. Do you see death as God giving or taking away?
3. Will you pray, right now and in the days to come, for Steven's family?
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May we keep listening. Jim.
INTERESTING THOUGHTS:
Blessed Be Your Name by Matt Redmond
Blessed Be Your Name in the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow, blessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your name when I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness, blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name when the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be, blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering, blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your glorious name
You give and take away, You give and take away
My heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be Your name
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