I felt conflicted about verses 12 and 13 today as I thought about many loved ones who have died what we on Earth would consider too early in life. This psalm says that the key to living a long and prosperous life is to keep your “tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies!” So, how do we explain to new followers of Jesus and those who don’t believe any of these words (yet, take them all to heart) that this isn’t the secret of a long life on Earth? I don’t know. But here’s what I do know: life to us now and life to us later are going to look like two very different lives. While I, and probably most of us, think of “life” in Earthly terms, life in Godly terms means a whole different thang, and sometimes the ONLY solace I can find in times of heartache when loved ones leave us too early is that they are waiting for us in another, most perfect life that we will only get to experience by experiencing King David’s advice today.
Sum it up:
I will praise God at all times,
For everything He creates is good.
Even the food we eat and the nature we see –
It’s ALL good!
And there is so much more
Waiting for us,
Those of us who can endure without mocking,
And look beyond the sadness
To a place,
The only place,
That brings complete joy
And peace.
Writing prompt: that place
We all have a happy place on Earth. Write about your happy place, and then write about how much happier it could be in Heaven.
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