A Sombre Day

On the 12th April the Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that the UK coronavirus death toll has reached 10,000, calling it a ‘somber day’.

The great biblical leader and prophet Moses had his own ‘somber day’. Nearing the end of Israel’s 40 year journey he learned that he would die out in the wilderness and not enter God’s Promised Land. By that point Israel’s death toll was nearly 2.5 million – most of the people who left Egypt were dead and buried. That is a large number of funerals!

It was probably around that time when Moses wrote Psalm 90.This ancient song expresses the confusion and disappointment God’s people experience in the face of death, when we are confronted with the brevity of life, and our failure to realise God’s promises in the way that we had hoped – things many of us may be feeling now.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.Before the mountains were brought forth,    or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!”
For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past or as a watch in the night.
You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, 
like grass that is renewed in the morning: 
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed.You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty;yet their span is but toil and trouble;    
they are soon gone, and we fly away.Who considers the power of your anger,
    and your wrath according to the fear of you? (Psalm 90:1-11).

But Psalm 90 also expresses prayers of hope for spiritual satisfaction and the faithful confidence that death will not prevent God from keeping His promises in the Word.

 Return, O Lord! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!

For a Christian, death is not the end and, though it looks like a disappointing defeat, tragic events in one generation can open up the way for the greater fulfilment of God’s redemptive purposes in the next generation. A wilderness generation can give way to a Promised Land generation. A tilling and sowing generation can give way to a reaping generation. In gospel work ‘dying experiences’ often open the way to greater experiences of resurrection life. Paul could write “So death is at work in us but life in you” (2 Cor 4:12). This places the significance of our limited individual lives in relation to the much bigger framework of God’s eternal plans and purposes.

This change of perspective does not happen automatically. To realise it personally, we need to turn verse 12 into our own heart prayer:

If you begin to make this request it will be a solemn day in your personal history. It is a serious thing to pray because we can never predict how God will answer. But we live in days where people are stock piling food to keep them alive for a few weeks but making no preparation for the eternal after-life which is only ever a breath away. A bit more of  this ‘life and death’ wisdom would not go amiss!