We have been watching, wondering, waiting, wrestling, and loving.
We continue Asking the Trinity what He is unfolding in these days of the end of Anne's 82nd year. She is extraordinary and He is showing His power in her weakness as she lives on with only water.
This morning the Holy Spirit prompted me to reread a chapter in a beloved book by Edith Schaeffer called Affliction. What a comfort her words are today which were written back in 1978 when I was only 11 years old.
"True hope changes sorrow, but does not obliterate it. Death is not to be taken as a 'normal, beautiful release' but as an enemy which separates body from spirit and human beings from each other. It spoils the beautiful Creation of God. It is so basically an enemy that God says that He will pay a great price, a ransom, to deliver us from death's power: (See Hosea 13:14).
A solution begins to unfold in the verse of Gensis where God speaks to Eve and Adam of His promise to send someone who will bruise the head of Satan. It is not that there is no solution, but that since the solution to death involves the great price of death for the Second Person of the Trinity - death's existence is basically an ugly enemy . We, as believers, do not need to pretend that it is 'lovely' to feel the harshness of being out of communication with a loved one, of having our hand suddenly without a responsive squeeze from a loved one, or another's eyes no longer speaking to our eyes. We can be angry at Satan, who tempted Eve to fall into his trap and therefore succeeded in spoiling so much for each of us. We can be angry at sin and Satan without being angry at God. We can weep, and God can comfort us in our weeping, but we do not need to pretend that it is an all ennobling experience. Satan would attempt to fool people...that death is better than life. It is also his lie. (See Hebrews 2:14-16)
It is conclusive that death is a terrible enemy, since it could not be put out of the way, except by the coming of the Second Person of the Trinity as truly man - so that He could 'taste death' in our place. Death is something which cost Jesus Christ Himself the awful separation from the rest of the Trinity. When He took our sins upon Himself, so that He could give us His righteousness in exchange, He experienced death in order to abolish its sting. (See 2 Timothy 1:10). To ignore the reality of death as an enemy is also to diminish the wonder of the available victory over sin and the permanent results of death. One day the victory over death and Satan will be complete and everlasting!"
I appreciate this "older sister" who is encouraging me from her place in Heaven today through her writing. She also said this:
"We are to bow to the truth which God has given us, with the amount of explanation He has given us. We need to be willing to let God be God, and to stay in our own place as human beings."
Such a good word. So excruciating to keep repeating this heavy practice day by day. We believe that before the foundations of the universe, our loving Father knew Aurelia Anne and saw all the days of her life before one of them had come to be yet.
Isaiah 25:8-9 also tell us "He will swallow up death FOREVER; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the Earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, 'BEHOLD, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation."
So we rage against the enemy of death and the darkness of it all and we fix our gaze on the LIGHT of a resurrection promise with great VICTORY.
Thank you for praying that we will wait on our Lord minute by minute in the turmoil of uncertainty and the peace that He is giving Mom breath by breath. God is near and He is able!
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