Comfort for Those Who Mourn

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Comfort For

Those Who

Mourn

by Chuck Smith

Original file posted August 4, 2001 at CalvaryChapel.com.Reformatted on April 13, 2012 by The Geeky Christian.

For more free Chuck Smith books in this formatvisit http://geekychristian.com/free-christian-ebooks/



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Introduction

1. Living Hope2. Building of God3. Lessons from David



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Introduction

What is life? What is death? Is there life after death?These questions are buried deep in the mind of everyman. We often push these questions into our sub-conscious, but they have a way of surfacing to the

conscious level every now and then, and we usuallymull them over for a while before we return them to thesub-conscious. Often these questions arise again at thedeath of a friend, a relative, or even a famous person.Severe mental or physical suffering can also rousethem. These questions have existed in man's mind fromthe beginning. They are always there, begging foranswers.

One of the oldest, if not the oldest, books in literaryhistory is the book of Job. We find Job asking, "Where isman after he takes his last breath?" (Job 14:10) and, "If aman dies, does he go on living?" (Job 14:14). Job'squestions arose from his grief over the deaths of his tenchildren in a tragic accident and out of his own intensesuffering. But for Job, there were no answers.

Centuries later, "The Age of Philosophy" was born andmen spent their entire lives seeking the answers tothese questions. Still, by the end of that age, thephilosophers had not come to any satisfactory answers.



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Near the end of the Age of Philosophy, Mary andMartha, sisters living in the small village of Bethany,mourned the death of their brother. They had sent amessage to Jesus asking Him to get there as quickly aspossible, because the one He loved was deathly ill (John11:13). Despite the urgency of this message, Jesus choseto relax at the Jordan River for a couple of days beforebeginning the two-day journey to Bethany, whichlies on the Mount of Olives, on the wilderness sideaway from Jerusalem. By the time he approached the

village with His disciples, His friend was dead, he hadalready been buried four days earlier.

When the sisters heard that Jesus was coming up theroad from Jericho, Martha left the other mournersand ran to meet Him. As she came to Him, sheexclaimed, "Jesus, if you had only been here earlier, mybrother would not have died!" She was disappointed in

Him. In a polite way she was rebuking Him by saying,"What took you so long to get here? Lord, where wereyou when we needed you? Why didn't you respond toour prayers? You could have prevented death andaverted our sorrow and grief? Why didn't you?" Isn't itinteresting that we still ask Him the same questionswhen a loved one dies today.

Jesus answered Martha with comforting words: "Yourbrother will live again." Not fully understanding whatHe meant, she answered, "Yes, I know that Lord, in the



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last day in the great resurrection." She must have beenthinking of the prophecy of Daniel 12, where he speaksof the general resurrection of the dead; some toeverlasting life, others to everlasting contempt. But Jesus answered, "I am the resurrection, and the life: hethat believeth in me, though he were dead, yet he shalllive: and whosoever liveth and believeth in meshall never die" (John11:25-26).

Having made this radical statement, He then asked

Martha directly, "Do you believe this?" She answered,"Yes, Lord: I believe that You are the Christ, the Son ofGod." The statement Jesus made has to be one of themost radical any man in history has dared to make. IfHe were not the person who made it, it wouldimmediately be cast off as the vain babble of a fanatic.Imagine Napoleon telling his loyal troops before abattle, "If you believe in me, you will never die."

Imagine Hitler or Kadaffi, or even our own Presidentmaking that claim. You would conclude right away thatthey were crazy and you probably wouldn't give itanother thought. But because of who Jesus is, wecannot just pass over this radical remark. We mustconsider it seriously.



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1. Living Hope

When Jesus asked, "Do you believe this?" Heimmediately divided all mankind into two categories:those who believe and those who don't. Those whohave hope of life after death, and those who have no

true hope for life after death. The Apostle Peter said,"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord JesusChrist, which according to his abundant mercy hathbegotten us again unto a lively [living] hope by theresurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to aninheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and thatfadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who arekept by the power of God through faith" (I Peter 1:3-5).

Our hope of eternal life, according to Peter, is morethan hope. It is a living hope verified by theresurrection of Jesus Christ.

At this point, you may logically argue, "If His wordswere true, why are there so many crosses ontombstones? What about all of the millions throughthe centuries that believed in Jesus and are now dead?"It is necessary to point out that the Biblical definitionof death is distinctly different from the dictionarydefinition. Medical science considers a man clinicallydead when his brain ceases to function. When a personlapses into a coma, life support systems are hooked up,



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along with EEG probes that allow doctors to observebrain wave activity. When the line on the monitor goesflat, that person is considered dead. Doctors often leavelife support systems on for another twenty four hours.If the line remains flat, they remove the life support,and watch the monitor carefully for some flutter thatwould indicate the brain is calling for oxygen. If the linestays flat, they notify the family that their loved one isdead. The mind, or consciousness, has departed fromthe body, so the person is considered dead. Death bythis definition is the separation of the consciousness

from the body.

From a scriptural perspective, death is the separationof man's consciousness from God. If you are notconscious of God the Bible declares that you are dead.

Paul the Apostle said that people living only forpleasure were dead while they were still alive (I

Timothy 5:6). God warned Adam in the Garden that theday Adam ate the forbidden fruit he would surely die(Genesis 2:17). When Adam ate the fruit he diedspiritually.

Up to that time, God had fellowship with man in theGarden. But after Adam ate the forbidden fruit, thisfellowship with God was severed. Adam hid himselfand God called to him, "Adam, where are you?"Adam, through sin, separated himself from God. Hewas spiritually dead, and that would eventually leadto physical death. By believing in Jesus Christ weexperience a spiritual birth. When Paul wrote to the



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believers in Ephesus, he said, "And you hath hequickened [made alive], who were dead in trespassesand sins" (Ephesians 2:1). Jesus said, "He that believethon the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believethnot the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of Godabideth on him" (John 3:36).

What Jesus was saying to Martha when He said, "If youlive and believe in Me, you will never die," was thatbelievers will never be consciously separated from God.I am so thankful that He did not mean that our

conscious states would never leave our bodies. Icannot imagine a more horrible condition thanremaining conscious long after my body could notadequately function. Wouldn't it be awful to be totallyhelpless; to be fed and bathed by someone you couldnot communicate with at all? To me that would be afate worse than death.



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2. Building of God

The Bible teaches that the "real me" is spirit. My body isa gift from God, a marvelous instrument through whichI can express myself. Without our bodies, we could notrelate to anything or anyone around us. What I am,

what I think, what I feel; I relate to you through themedium of my body. You in turn because of yourbodies can understand what I relate and in turn yourelate to me. Because the body is the medium by whichwe relate, we begin to identify a person with theirbody. As we relate to each other, we begin to know,admire, appreciate and love each other. Weexperience loving relationships. That is exactly what

God intended for man.

When our bodies, because of age, illness, accident ordisease, can no longer relate what we are, what we feelor what we desire; when our bodies give us more painthan pleasure, they actually become prisons,incarcerating our spirits. Then it is time for God, in Hislove, to release our spirits from our bodies. Thescriptures say that those who believe in Jesus Christ donot experience death, they just go through ametamorphosis or change of body.



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In II Corinthians 5:1 Paul describes that change thisway: "We know that, if our earthly house of thistabernacle were dissolved [our human bodies returnto dust], we have a building of God, a house not madewith hands, eternal in the heavens." To the believerthen, death is nothing more than moving from a tent toa house!

If you've ever been camping, you know what it's like tostay in a tent for any period of time. It is exciting andfun, but often inconvenient. But you can put up with

the inconvenience because you know it is onlytemporary.

No one thinks of a tent as a permanent dwelling, theythink of it instead as something transient. It is the samewith our sojourns in these bodies. One day I will moveout of my tent and into my mansion, my building ofGod, not made by hands, that Jesus has gone to prepare

for me. (John 14:1,2) You may read or hear somedaythat Chuck Smith died. Don't believe it. That willbe poor reporting. It should be said that Chuck Smithmoved from a worn-out tent into a beautiful mansion.Paul went on to say that, as we live in these bodies, weoften groan, earnestly desiring to be delivered or freedfrom our bodily restrictions. We do not desire to beunembodied spirits, but we want to move into ournew heavenly bodies. He concludes, that we know thatas long as we are living in our present bodies, we areabsent from the Lord. If we had our wish we wouldleave our earthly bodies so that we could be presentwith the Lord. Flesh and blood bodies cannot inherit



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the Kingdom of heaven, so the move from tent tomansion is imperative. "This corruption (my presentbody) must put on incorruption (my new body) andthis mortal must put on immorality" (I Corinthians15:53).

This brings in a flood of new questions andspeculations which Paul anticipates in I Corinthians,chapter 15. First of all, how are the dead raised andwhat kind of bodies will they have when they comeback with Christ? In I Thessalonians, chapter four,

Paul teaches that when the Lord comes to snatch Hischurch away, He will bring with Him all of the saintsthat have already gone to be with Him. We will meettogether in the air and be with Him forever.

For an answer to the question of how the dead areraised, Paul points to nature to illustrate the truth.Resurrection is not something unique or far-fetched; it

is often demonstrated in nature. Every time a seed isplanted it dies before it comes forth in a new body andnew life. This process is called germination. The verydeath of the seed is the process by which the new bodycomes forth. Paul is careful to point out, however, thatthe body that comes out of the ground is quite differentthan the body that was planted. We plant a bare grain,but God, through His miraculous recreative powers,gives it a new body that pleases Him. Paul tells us, "Soalso is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown incorruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is sown indishonor, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness[our present feeble bodies], it is raised in power [our



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new glorified form]: It is sown a natural body [ourpresent bodies, as a result of catabolic forces takingtheir toll], it is raised a spiritual body" (I Corinthians15:42-44).

But let's go a little further with Paul's illustration of theseed transformed into something new by death. If Iheld a scaly brown bulb before you and asked youwhat it was, you might carefully examine it and reply,"That's a gladiola, I think." Looking at that ugly thing, Imight query, "A gladiola, are you sure?"

If I put the bulb in the soil and covered it with a littledirt, it would die and split. Out of that cleft a littlewhite shoot would rise and turn green as it reached theatmosphere. As it continued to grow into a stalk, budswould emerge on the sides and open up into beautifulpurple, or perhaps red variegated blossoms.

Again I might ask you, "What is that gorgeous flower?"

Again you'd answer, "A gladiola." I could object,saying, "A gladiola, you're putting me on! How canthat beautiful flower be a gladiola, when you just toldme the brown scaly bulb was a gladiola?"

But it would be true. Though the bodies of thebulb and the flower are completely different, they aredefinitely related, the one sprang from the death of theother.



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One day in heaven, you might see a handsome creaturewith an abundance of wavy brown hair. You might ask,"Who is that?" And when someone responds, "It'sChuck," you'll probably say, "Come on, you must beputting me on!" Not so. I simply will have blossomedout in my new body, my building of God not madewith hands.

In Paul's lesson on resurrection in I Corinthians 15, heasserts that, even as we have borne the image of theearth and have been earthly, so shall we bear the image

of the heavens. He is pointing out the fact that, whenGod created these bodies to house our spirits, He madethem out of the earth and He made them for theenvironmental conditions on Earth. It is true that theseventeen elements found in the soil are the sameseventeen elements found in our bodies. God said toAdam, "Dust thou art and to dust you shall return"(Genesis 3:19).

Once, a little boy who was taught that same scripture inSunday school went home and looked under his bedand excitedly cried to his mother: "Come quick, there'ssomeone under my bed and he's either coming orgoing!"

In the Psalms, we are told that God knows our frame:that we are made out of dust. (Psalm 103:14) My bodywas not just made out of earth, it was made for theEarth. My body was designed to extract oxygenfrom the atmosphere composed of 79 parts nitrogen,20 parts oxygen and one part other trace gasses. My



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body was designed to withstand fourteen pounds ofpressure per square inch. My body was not made forany other place in our solar system, or as far as weknow, any other place in our universe. If we want totake our bodies away from this planet, even a fewthousand feet above it, we must take an artificialenvironment with us. Pilots that fly the SR71, a planethat can climb in excess of80,000 feet above the Earth, must wear pressurizedsuits with nitrogen andoxygen tanks. Without these suits, their body liquids

would ooze out through their skin, in less than a scantten miles from the surface of the Earth.

God has promised that, eternally, we will dwell withHim in His glorious Kingdom. We don't know what theenvironmental conditions of heaven are but there is nodoubt that they are different from the conditions here;no doubt far superior. God could outfit us with space

suits and let us clomp clumsily around heaven, or Hecould give us totally new bodies designed to takeus anywhere in the universe. God has wisely opted forthe latter. He has prepared a mansion for me, abuilding of God not made with hands, eternal in theheavens. You may think that a change to a new bodythat is adapted to a totally different environment

sounds rather far-fetched and incredible. Again we canturn to nature for illustrations that demonstrate theviability of this concept.



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Look at the tadpole, by design it is limited to the water,yet when it goes through it's metamorphosis and istransformed into a frog, it can now live on land also.Better yet, look at a fuzzy little caterpillar, crawlingacross a field. I can imagine him trying to cross ahighway in the summer with all his little feet on the hotblack asphalt, thinking to himself, "How wonderful itwould be if I could fly! I am so tired of hot dirty feet."He might even attempt to fly by crawling up a tree, jumping off a limb and wiggling as fast as possible. Buthe's not aerodynamically designed for flight, so he'll

just fall to the ground. One day however, he may climbup the wall of your house, ooze a little natural glue toaffix himself under your windowsill, spin a chrysalisand hang motionless for a while. If you were to squeezethat chrysalis, you would find an orange-yellow liquidinside. If you let it hang there though, and you watch itcarefully, you will see it begin to twitch one day. It will jerk convulsively until beautiful orange and black

wings unfurl and a new butterfly perches for amoment on his empty chrysalis. Then, withoutlessons or instructions, that Monarch butterfly will soonbegin to fly around the yard then over the fence and faraway.

A metamorphosis from a body limited to crawling onthe earth to one that can fly through the air is amazing.The new body allows the butterfly to exist in a wholenew environment.

Sometimes as I look around at the chaos and sorrow onearth. I say, "Oh God, I am so tired of hot dirty feet, I



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wish I could fly!" And one of these days, this corruptionwill put on incorruption, this mortal will put onimmortality, and I will be changed in the twinkling ofan eye. (I Corinthians 15:52-54) I will soar above theclouds to be with my God in the glories of His eternalKingdom, a world without end.

When I am gone, don't weep for me. I will be where myheart now longs to be, beholding the beauty of the faceof the one I have never seen, yet I love. And though Idon't see Him yet, I rejoice with unspeakable joy, full of

glory (I Peter1:8). I discovered, through the death of my godlyparents, that my great sorrowwas not for them, but for myself, for my personal lossof the beautiful input they always had in my life. Mysorrow was selfish. I wasn't ready to let them go yet. Ifelt I still needed the security I always felt from theirassurance and love. When I thought of them, there in

His glorious presence, I rejoiced for them while I weptfor myself.

Unless we are alive, and remain until the coming of theLord, we can be sure that one of these days, our spiritswill leave our mortal bodies. Our friends might say wehave died, but if we have lived and believed in Jesus,according to His promise, we will have merely movedfrom our tents to our eternal homes where we will, asDavid, "dwell in the house of the Lord forever." (Psalm23:6)



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We will have blossomed like the gladiola, and wewill soar in our new environment like the butterfly.Thank God this is our living hope, guaranteed by theresurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!



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3. Lessons from David

In Chapter one of II Samuel we find David receivingword of the death of his dear friend Jonathan, and ofKing Saul, who he admired so greatly. In observinghow David deals with his grief, there are some

important lessons we can learn. Sooner or later everyone of us will experience the grief and sorrow of havinglost someone that we loved very dearly. It could be thatwe lose them in death. It could be that just lose them asa close relationship drifts apart. But the loss of someonethat we love can be an extremely devastatingexperience. Many people have been totally destroyedbecause of their inability to deal with grief.

Upon hearing the news, we read that David firstresponded emotionally, demonstrating his grief bytearing his clothes. Although that might seem strangeto us, during the time of David it was common practiceto rend a garment as an expression of extreme sorrow.David then fasted, wept and mourned untilevening. It is important to understand that releasingour sorrows is a very beneficial thing to do. Often wefeel that we must put on a brave face and repress anypublic expression of grief. Some even feel that theyare being spiritual by doing so. But to release our



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emotions and shed some tears is not at all bad. In fact, itis quite therapeutic.

David's expression of grief was not limited to tears. Hethen spent some time reflecting on the lives of Jonathanand Saul and wrote a type of elegy called anlamentation for them. It begins as David declares, "Thebeauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how arethe mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not inthe streets of Ashkelon; lest the daughters of thePhilistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the

uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, letthere be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, norfields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty isvilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he hadnot been anointed with oil. From the blood of the slain,from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turnednot back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their

lives, and in their death they were not divided: theywere swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothedyou in scarlet, with other delights; who put onornaments of gold upon your apparel. How are themighty fallen in the midst of battle! O Jonathan, thouwast slain in thine high places. I am distressed for thee,my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been untome: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love ofwomen. How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons ofwar perished!" (2 Samueal 1:19-27). In these beautifuland poetic words, David gave expression to the deepgrief he was feeling. The people of Israel were able to



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sing these words in tribute to their fallen king and hisson.

The third way that David dealt with his grief was quiteinteresting, and on the surface perhaps a little difficultto understand. Verse 18 tells us that David gave ordersthat each father in Judea was to teach his children howto use a bow. It is significant to note that in a time ofemotional distress David instructed the

people to get involved in a constructive activity. In a

time of grief and sorrow, people often make thatmistake of becoming almost paralyzed by a morbidkind of introspection and emotional indulgence. Thisapproach is not only unhealthy, but actually intensifiesand prolongs the grief. An important part ofovercoming sorrow is to become active, to learn a newskill, to develop a new hobby, to get out and travel.

David instructed his people to teach their children howto use a bow. Now they didn't have sporting goodsstores in those days. They couldn't just go downtownand buy an archery set. First they had to find a tree thathad a good sturdy branch, cut it down and carve thebranch out into the bow. They also had to look forbranches that were straight that they could fashion intoarrows. Then they had to find the feathers, and tie themon to each arrow. It was a real process in just making anarchery set for the children.

There was a very important benefit that was derivedfrom David's order. Think of the closeness that was



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developed between the fathers and their children asthey worked together on this project. I remember yearsago when I taught my sons how to use a bow. Ofcourse, we went to a sporting goods store, and bought acouple of archery sets for them, including the targets,and the bale of hay. First I taught my sons how to stringthe bow properly. Then I taught them how to notch thearrow in the string the proper way, and how toaccurately sight the target, and how to release thearrow at the proper time. I had purchased bows thatwere a little stronger than what they could

immediately pull, so in the beginning of their lessons Ihad to reach around behind them and help them asthey drew back on the bow. As we worked on thisactivity together we found it to strengthen our love forone another.

So we can see that David's real purpose was tostrengthen the bonds within the families in Israel. Not

only would archery take the people's minds off the lossof their leaders, it would also serve to bring parents andchildren closer to one another. Clearly, in a time of loss,we also should seek to strengthen the bonds within ourfamilies. We should make an effort to pursue activitiesthat can draw the family together.

We also see tremendous foresight on the part ofDavid. He was also taking lessons from the past andmaking them a valuable asset for the future. In thebattle, the Philistines introduced a new form of warfare.The bow and the arrow were used in a tightlyorganized, concerted effort. Bows and arrows had often



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been used in battle, but for the first time all the archerswere concentrating on a single target. If a hundredarrows are being shot at the same target some of themare going to get through. You can't dodge them all, norcan you use the shield to deflect them all. It was thisnew concentrated approach that resulted in the mortalwounding of Saul. David immediately saw theadvantages of this long distance form of warfare.

King Saul was a powerful warrior. In David's lament henoted that the sword of Saul did not return empty. In

one on one, hand to hand combat, the Philistines didn'tstand a chance against Saul. So they cleverly adjustedtheir strategy. The archers brought Saul down from asafe distance, a lesson in tactics that wasn't

lost on David. This would not be the last battle Israelwould face. In fact, at that time in history warfare withvarious roving tribes was a fact of life. Many times the

people would have to arise to defend village and familyagainst attackers. David could see that it would be anadvantage if they could develop archery skills for thefuture. Learning from the lessons of the past he nowmakes a practical application for the future. Heordered that fathers teach their children the use of thebow.

Beyond it being a more efficient form of civil defense,this practice also served as a very fitting memorial for Jonathan. Now I have never really been impressed bymemorials that are made in stone. We have allseen plaques or marble monuments that declare all the



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wonderful things a deceased person had done. While Iam sure these have meaning for friends and relatives, Ibelieve there is a better way to honor the memory ofthose who have passed on. How much more significantit would be to look at the life of a person and attempt toemulate the strengths and skills that made themspecial. You see, Jonathan was a noted archer. In hislament, David speaks of the bow of Jonathan. Everytime the fathers were out with their children teachingthem how to use a bow they would remember Jonathanas a mighty man and an outstanding warrior. It was

an extremely fitting tribute to Jonathan to teach thechildren the use of the bow. And how beautiful it is tohonor those loved ones who have passed on byremembering and emulating their strengths.

My dad was an outstanding witness for JesusChrist. As far as personal witnessing, he was one ofthe best. He was constantly sharing with people. I can't

remember him ever meeting a person without turningthe encounter into an opportunity to share the love of Jesus. He was tremendously gifted with the knack, thecapacity, the zeal to witness in almost any situation. Ican remember many years ago our family had a littletrailer that we pulled behind a Model-A Ford, andevery summer we would go on a camping trip toYosemite National park. It was great, we really enjoyedit. But then in 1934, Airstream came out with a verynice, light travel trailer. Dad went down and boughtone, and boy we stepped up in the world! Now we hada trailer, and our camping trips became very expansive.We went all over the western part of the United States.



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On one trip we visited the Redwoods in NorthernCalifornia. We had eaten dinner, and were settleddown for the night. We had just turned off the Colemanlantern, and the light was gradually going out. We hadall bedded down and were quite cozy when there was aknock on the door of the trailer. Dad opened the door,and there was a state trooper standing there. He said,"You know, you can't park here. It's against the law.You'll have to get off the road someplace. If you go upthe road about two miles, and go back in about ten

miles, there is a beautiful place to camp. Hardly anyoneknows about it, it's so far off the road, but for a dollaryou can connect up to the electricity. There's a nicestream, and in the morning you can go swimming."

So we drove up the road and pulled off and went wayback into the woods. Dad went in to makearrangements to get a spot to park the trailer, and it

seemed that he was gone a long time. So momfinally decided to see what had happened, and therewas dad sharing Jesus with a man he met at the campsite.

Soon the man got down on his knees and accepted theLord. Afterwards he told us, "I can't believe this! Myparents were always witnessing to me. I got so sick ofthem telling me that I needed the Lord, and that Ineeded Jesus Christ. So I decided to get as far awayfrom people so that no one would ever witness to meagain. That is why I bought this place way back here inthe sticks. Now here you are!" And my dad said, "Well,



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just shows you, you'll never escape the Lord. You canrun as far as you want, but you might as well give yourheart to Him, because you are never going to escapeHim." And Dad led him to the Lord. But that's just theway my dad was.

So when the Lord saw fit to take him home, Idetermined that I was going to learn the skills ofwitnessing. He was skillful. His bow was witnessing.And so I determined that I was going to learn the use ofthe bow, the use of witnessing for the Lord, and that I

might become a more effective witness for the Lord.Rather than just sitting back and weeping, and saying,"Oh, my dad, I miss my dad.", and plunging into self-pity because I lost my dad and brother, I decided totake something that they were able to do well,something in which they set a good example, anddevelop that skill.

My mother was a woman of prayer. I cannotremember waking up a single morning, but the firstthing I heard was my mother out in the other roompraying. She would get up and hour or so before therest of the family and spend the first couple of hours inprayer. I can't remember going to sleep at night, but thelast thing I'd heard as I would drift off to sleep was mymother in the other room praying. What a blessing itwas to grow up in a home surrounded by prayer. Mymother was one of the most godly, praying women I'veever met. When the Lord saw fit to take her home, Ithought, "I'm going to develop my skills in praying. I'mgoing to give myself more to prayer. I'm going to learn



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to pray as she prayed. I'm going to learn the use of thatbow." This was David's intent as he desired to honor Jonathan's life. He ordered everyone to teach therechildren how to use the bow. It was as if he was sayingto Israel, "This man has set a classic example, let'sfollow it." And it became a living memorial unto him.When the time comes and we lose those who have beenso influential, those that have touched our lives, it'sgood to get active. It is good to take something thatthey have been skillful or adept in, and determine thatwe are going to develop that ourselves, following the

good example that they have left.

Clearly in David's time a bow was a weapon of warfare.And in a sense we can see this passage as instructive forthe spiritual battles we fight, especially those thatinvolve the use of the spiritual weapon of prayer. TheBible says that the weapons of our warfare are notcarnal, but they are mighty through God for the pulling

down of the strongholds of the enemy (IICorinthians 10:4). And whereas, the bow was able tolob the arrows, and strike the enemy from a distance,without this close hand-to-hand combat, so prayer canwork the same way.

I like to think of our prayers as an excellent weapon bywhich we can bring a spiritual influence upon peoplefrom a distance. Many of us know what hand to handspiritual warfare is like. We've witnessed so much tothose that we love because we are so desirous that theyknow Jesus, and the joy of following Him,



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and the assurance of eternal life. We so desperatelywant them to know the glorious love of God and thepower of Jesus Christ in their lives, that sometimes wecan get a little pushy. And sometimes people begin toresent our witnessing to them. They say, "Give me abreak! Stay off my case! Don't talk to me about thisanymore! We can't talk about religion without arguing,so please don't talk to me!" And it seems that all ourbest efforts have done is to slam the door of witnessshut! At times like that it is great to know that God hasequipped us with the long distance weapon of prayer.

Rather than forcing a confrontation we can just startshooting the arrows from a distance. They start gettinghit, and they don't even know where it came from.They start feeling conviction for their sin. They startfeeling miserable. "Why do I feel bad about that? I do itall the time. I know it's not right, but why do I feel sohorrible?" The Spirit begins to work in their hearts as

we through prayer can bind the work of the enemy. Wethrough prayer can open their hearts to the things ofthe Spirit of God. And prayer becomes a tremendousinstrument in Spiritual warfare, in bringing others intothe light, and the knowledge, and the understanding ofour Lord.

There was a lady who lived in St. Louis, Missouri, whowas a beautiful Christian. Her husband was a lawyer, aman of keen intellect. He had been elected to Congressand sat in the House of Representatives. As was herhabit, she met with a group of ladies for prayer. Andon one particular Tuesday morning in March, she



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and her friends decided that they were going topray for her husband's salvation every morning at teno'clock. Though he was a wonderfully intelligent man,he was an agnostic, and was very resistant to all herattempts at witnessing to him.

So every morning she and the ladies would meet and atten o'clock, shoot their arrows towards WashingtonD.C. They would pray that somehow God wouldspeak to his heart, and that He would bring to his hearta realization of his need for God. It was a very busy

session of Congress, but when it finally recessed, hereturned home to Missouri. On Saturday morning heasked her, "Are you going to go to church tomorrow?"She said, "Well, if it's alright with you, I would like togo to church." He said to her, "Do you mind if Igo with you?" She was absolutely shocked! "I'd loveto have you go with me." So the next morning he wentto church with her, and when the invitation was given,

he went forward. That day at lunch they were sharingtogether how glorious it was that God had now unitedthem completely. Even though they had had a goodmarriage, from an emotional, and physical standpoint,there was a missing spiritual ingredient that has nowbeen made complete. They could hardly believe the joy and blessing they now shared, and theCongressman was thrilled by the joy and peace he wasexperiencing.

As they were sharing she said, "Well honey, last MarchI asked the ladies in my prayer group to join with me inprayer for you, that God would bring you to receive



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Christ." He asked, "When did you start?" She said,"Well, it was the second Tuesday morning in March.Let's get the calendar out." They got the calendar out,and found the exact date and time that they hadstarted. He pulled out the daily journal that he kept andsaid, "I want you to see what I wrote on

March 12th at noon." And there, in his ledger, writtenin the midst of a busy, heated session of Congresswere the words, "Suddenly, I have come to anamazing awareness that I need God in my life." Those

arrows of prayer were hitting home. Just as Daviddecided to make the use of the bow and arrow apriority for the people of Israel, we need to make theuse of the bow of prayer a priority in our own lives,that we might be effective for God in the spiritual battlein which we are all engaged.

We all know the pain of losing someone we love, but

rather than allowing sorrow and grief to rule our lives,we can turn even a time of tragedy into a growingexperience when we give it to God. The nameAlexander Kruden probably doesn't mean anything toyou. However, if I would say, "Kruden's Concordance",then a lot of you would nod and say, "Oh yes, I useKruden's Concordance. I find it a tremendousadvantage and help in finding Scriptures." What manypeople don't know is that Kruden's Concordance wasmore or less born out of a very sad experience in the lifeof this man. He was deeply in love with a young girlwho jilted him, but rather than just closing in aroundhimself, and moaning, and groaning, he decided that



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he would devote his life to setting up this concordanceso that people could find Scriptures more easily. AndKruden's Concordance was actually born out of thattragedy.

This story is told of a wealthy man in Venice, who satin his room day by day mourning over life. He wasconvinced that life had no meaning or purpose.Finally he had sunk so low in despair that he decided todrown himself in the Venice Canal. As he was on hisway to end it all, a little boy came up and tugged on his

pants leg and asked him for some money. He said, "Myfamily hasn't eaten for three days! We're hungry! Canyou give me a little money?" The man was skeptical,and didn't believe the story of the little boy. But he said,"Take me to your house." So the little boy took him tomeet his family. He saw that it had in fact been dayssince they had eaten. So he emptied out all of themoney that he had in his pockets. And when he saw the

joy that came upon these people who now had moneyto eat he thought, "Now that's worth living for!" And hespent the rest of his life helping the poor in Venice.

It is very easy to close ourselves off and say, "Oh, lifeisn't worth living." Grief or loss can cause us to isolateourselves in a prison of sadness. Powerful emotionslike grief can destroy our lives or be used by God asstepping stones to reach out in new dimension, in anew life, in a new talent, in a new capacity. We candiscover that God has a lot in store for us. The death ofa loved one is not the end, it's just a turn in the road toa whole new path that God might have for us. When



we take a time of tragedy and use is as an opportunityto learn to use a bow, there is no telling whatwonderful things God will do!

As those whom we love, those who have meant somuch are suddenly taken from us the sorrow can eitherbring an end to life or it can be a stepping stone intogreater horizons. It all depends on how we respond.David showed us the proper response. God help us todo the same. Maybe some of you are in a hole today.Maybe some of you have been grieving for a long time.

Hey, it's time to quit sitting still. Let's learn to use abow.

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Comfort for Those Who Mourn

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