Walking With You to the End
Well, I do hope that Gavin's song Father has touched your heart this week as you've been reminded that He is more than a father and loves us. So let's listen to the last verse.
Lying in a hospital bed, my family in the room
With tears in my eyes they knew my time was coming soon
Visiting hours ended, it was time for them to leave
But there was only One who stayed, right there next to me
As I waiting in expectation, I wasn’t on my own
God Almighty took my hand, He’d come to take me home
God Never Leaves
Well the theme of death seems to be coming up a lot in my devotions this year and I haven't planned it that way at all, it just seems to have happened.
In this picture that Gav paints in the last verse, of lying in the hospital bed about to breathe your last, the family’s there, but then as visiting hours end and everyone has to leave, God stays. God stays. That picture is very important for me and I suspect for you as well.
I remember during the worst of COVID when people weren't allowed in hospitals a lot of people in our church had to deal with death without being able to say goodbye because the wards were closed and so you couldn't get in to be with your loved one in their last moments. For many people that was a great tragedy and a great struggle.
And it's more than just COVID - a lot of people who have lost loved ones worry about what those last moments were like for that person. And this song of Gav’s has always given me great hope that we're not alone! We're not alone - even in those last moments, God will be with us even right to the end.
Led Home by God
As the song says, God Almighty took my hand, He’d come to take me home. Isn't that a comforting thought? God coming to take a loved one by the hand and lead them home when their time on earth is done. This is why we can say God is more than a father, because even the most loving father can't always be walking around with his children. He has to let them go and do their own thing. But God the Father is always there, always there, right to the very end. And remember, the very end is only the beginning of the rest.
Perhaps you need to hear this today as you consider the death of somebody you cherish. Can you for a moment picture God the Father coming down to that bedside or that roadside or wherever it might be, and tenderly taking his child by the hand and leading them home? The pain is still real for us in our loss, but there is a sense of relief and a sense of joy when we realize that those in Christ who have died have been taken in hand by the Father and led home.
And what a scene when a Christian arrives home in heaven! Imagine a father whose child has done something great planning a party for their child, a surprise party. He goes and fetches the child, brings a child back to the house and opens the door. And waiting for the child, there's a multitude of cheering loved ones! I believe that faithful Christians who die in the Lord will be led home by the Father to the same reception.
And so He's more than a father, my friends. Do you know Him? Is He your father? I hope so.
