I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

Thursday, August 3, 2023


Psalm 78:16-38

2 Samuel 12:15b-31

John 9:18-38


I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.


Have you ever heard (or even been a part of) a conversation musing on the possibility that there might be a hierarchy of evil deeds? The most famous might be the one between Martin Luther and Rome, when the difference between venial and mortal sins were thrown out alongside purgatory and indulgences. Perhaps it is more the case that, when we ask the Holy Spirit for help to overcome a particular sin we are facing, one of the ways He helps us is by helping us see just how truly ugly that sin is. Whatever the case, the reason why sin is such a disaster for our souls and an affront to God is because ultimately they all lead to the same place: death. And there is nothing uglier than death.


In the face of the imminent death of his baby boy, David asked God to prolong the boy’s life in every way he knew how. This is a good attitude to have. How often we revert back to our old sins like a dog returns to its vomit (Prov 26:11), happily licking up the poison of death, instead of fleeing as far as possible back to the goodness of God.


But in the end, death comes to us all. Such is the state of this fallen world. To think of how disgustingly ugly sin and death is, and to then think of how Christ took it all on Himself when He went to the cross, is beyond words. Such beauty, peerless in heaven and on earth, dragged down to the absolute depths, all for the sake of the love He has for us.


David knew of God’s love and of God’s redemptive power. He trusted that God would hold his little boy safe on the other side. All of us who have lost loved ones, especially little ones, stand beside David looking to God, knowing that those loved ones are held close in our Father’s arms, in perfect peace, waiting for us to rejoin them.



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