So I was reading in 2 Samuel 24 today. In this chapter, David took a census of the army, and God punished him by sending a plague and killing 70,000 Israelites in the span of 3 days. This story has always troubled me. The punishment seems so disproportionate to the crime. But God is not a God who can always be understood. And, when we don't understand Him, He wants us to trust in what we DO know. He is patient. He is kind. He is tender towards us and our needs. He loves us. Life doesn't always make sense. Our future doesn't always make sense. Our friends and family don't always make sense. God doesn't always make sense. But He always loves us. And, when nothing else makes sense, that's what we can cling to throughout life's storms. God's love is enough for us.
It reminds me of a song by Sara Groves, called "What Do I Know?" She spends most of the song talking about what she doesn't know, and the uncertainties of life. But then she says what she does know - that to be absent from this body, is to be present with the LORD. And that that is very good. What a comforting thought that is to me!! :)
It reminds me of a song by Sara Groves, called "What Do I Know?" She spends most of the song talking about what she doesn't know, and the uncertainties of life. But then she says what she does know - that to be absent from this body, is to be present with the LORD. And that that is very good. What a comforting thought that is to me!! :)
What Do I Know?
By Sara Groves
I have a friend who just turned eighty-eight
and she just shared with me that she's afraid of dying.
I sit here years from her experience
and try to bring her comfort.
I try to bring her comfort
But what do I know? What do I know?
She grew up singing about the glory land,
and she would testify how Jesus changed her life.
It was easy to have faith when she was thirty-four,
but now her friends are dying, and death is at her door.
And what do I know? What do I know?
Well, I don't know that there are harps in heaven,
Or the process for earning your wings.
I don't know of bright lights at the ends of tunnels,
Or any of these things.
She lost her husband after sixty years,
and as he slipped away she still had things to say.
Death can be so inconvenient.
You try to live and love. It comes and interrupts.
And what do I know? What do I know?
Well,I don't know that there are harps in heaven,
Or the process for earning your wings.
And I don't know of bright lights at the ends of tunnels,
Or any of these things.
But I know to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord,
and from what I know of him, that must be pretty good.
Oh, I know to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord,
and from what I know of him, that must be very good.
and she just shared with me that she's afraid of dying.
I sit here years from her experience
and try to bring her comfort.
I try to bring her comfort
But what do I know? What do I know?
She grew up singing about the glory land,
and she would testify how Jesus changed her life.
It was easy to have faith when she was thirty-four,
but now her friends are dying, and death is at her door.
And what do I know? What do I know?
Well, I don't know that there are harps in heaven,
Or the process for earning your wings.
I don't know of bright lights at the ends of tunnels,
Or any of these things.
She lost her husband after sixty years,
and as he slipped away she still had things to say.
Death can be so inconvenient.
You try to live and love. It comes and interrupts.
And what do I know? What do I know?
Well,I don't know that there are harps in heaven,
Or the process for earning your wings.
And I don't know of bright lights at the ends of tunnels,
Or any of these things.
But I know to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord,
and from what I know of him, that must be pretty good.
Oh, I know to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord,
and from what I know of him, that must be very good.
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