Daily Worship

I know that my Redeemer liveth

Louise McClements November 26, 2016 0 1

Job 19

Oh, that my words could be recorded.

Oh, that they could be inscribed on a monument,

carved with an iron chisel and filled with lead,

engraved forever in the rock.

But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,

and he will stand upon the earth at last.

And after my body has decayed,

yet in my body I will see God!

I will see him for myself.

Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.

I am overwhelmed at the thought!

This piece was played at my father-in-law’s funeral. He was a minister, still working in his charge of 24 years, and he died suddenly on a Saturday evening whilst preparing his service for the next day.

His sudden and unexpected death left a deep hole in our hearts and it was my first experience of real, raw, gaping grief and it hurt like hell.

My father-in-law loved this piece of music and when I heard it at his funeral I fell in love with it too. The first line- ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth’ sums up for me what faith in Christ is all about. I know he lives, I can’t prove it to the sceptic with mathematical or scientific equation, I just know it’s truth in my heart and with every fibre of my being, and my father-in-law knew this too……….

 

 

www.sanctuaryfirst.org.uk/audio

 

 

Dear God,

There is no pain like the sudden and unexpected death of a loved one,

it is so stark, so final, so cutting,

it severs the connection in such a brutal way,

it causes us to howl, to rock, to rage,

or to remain silent in shock…..

 

People say following sudden death that ‘at least he didn’t suffer’,

‘that’s what he would have wanted,’

‘at least you didn’t need to see him wither away,’

but all the while they overlook the comfort and tenderness of a final good-bye,

final hug,

final conversation,

final smile…….

 

In the dark abyss of sudden death,

as we all stood and stared into the black pit of velvety emptiness,

I just knew that my Redeemer liveth…..

That beyond all the sudden, jarring pain, sorrow and mourning,

lay a love which had overcome death,

a love which held my loved one safely in the palm of his hand,

a love which was so much deeper than my deepest pit of despair….

 

And so at the funeral,

when I heard this most sacred piece of music being played,

a piece which my father-in-law himself had loved,

I was hugely comforted,

because despite everything that had happened,

I too knew that my Redeemer liveth,

that one day there would be a brighter morning,

and somehow that was enough,

to give me the hope,

and to give us all the hope,

to carry on………

 

 

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