Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. – Psalm 116:15
Five years ago, my father died. In the days, weeks, and months preceding his death, I had been filled with fear regarding the moment of his passing. I had been to many funerals and seen deceased people before, so that was not at all scary to me. It was the passing from life into death that scared me. I had never seen anyone breathe his last breath.
As it happened, we had only a few days to prepare for Dad’s final day. Five days before he died, the doctors gave him a few weeks to live. His passing, however, came much quicker than any of us expected. From the afternoon before he died until just after he stepped into Heaven, my mother, my sisters, and I were blessed to have a continuing stream of his ministerial friends and family members come to sit with us. They came to say goodbye to their good friend, but they ministered to us as well. Every one of them read the same Scripture to Dad, not knowing that the particular Scripture they had chosen was Dad’s favorite. Each prayed with us, sang with us, and shared stories of Dad from days past. We gained a lot of pleasant memories from those long hours.
As we realized the end was near, the Lord began to fill me with a peace I had never known before. I had been a Christian since I was thirteen years old, so I knew well the ever-living joy of the presence of the Lord. But this new peace was fresh, and I am sure it was due to the nearness of the Comforter. Seeing Dad go was sad, yet the Holy Spirit confirmed in our hearts that God was still with us. We felt Heaven itself as my dad’s time on this sphere grew shorter.
The Scripture in Psalm 116:15 became real to me that day; there was a precious feeling in that place. Death is a frightening thought for so many, yet to the Lord it is a very special moment. We have nothing to fear when we are in the Hands of the Lord.