April 16, 2025 - 1 Chronicles 10-12

Paul can rightly conclude that, for the Christian, to be absent from the body (i.e., to die) is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).  That which awaits us beyond death is a heavenly home with God and something to look forward to.  Even this assurance, though, cannot mask the terribleness of death.  From the beginning, with Adam and Eve, death has always been an evil brought about by sin.  We find no joy in death other than that which awaits us afterward.  And for a nation, the death of a leader is a time for mourning.  Wounded severely in battle against the Philistines, “Saul took his own sword and fell upon it” (10:14) and, so, he died along with Jonathan and his other sons.  And the kingdom was turned “over to David the son of Jesse” (10:14).  No one should celebrate Saul’s death.  David certainly did not.  Rather, he “mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword” (2 Samuel 1:12).  A sad time.  A time for mourning.  Yet, a time for hope!  Now, upon the throne will sit a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).  Now, after the dark days of Saul’s reign will come the brightness of David’s reign, all according to the promises made to David by God.  And once again, we are reminded of the hope we have, that “weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5).  Saul’s reign has ended but David’s has begun along with all the promises of the covenant made sure!

Give to the winds your fears,

Hope, and be undismayed;

God hears your sighs and counts your tears;

God shall lift up your head.

Thru' waves and clouds and storms

He gently clears the way.

Wait now this time, so shall this night

Soon end in joyous day.   –Paul Gerhardt (1788)