I published this 3 years ago today in FB. Every year, it seems, I lose more and more friends in death. I know it won't be too long before I join them, but in the mean while I'll rejoice that I knew them and thank God for the impact each one has made on my life.
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When we reach our 80's we begin to notice that many of our friends have outstripped us and are now with the Lord. Spurgeon puts this in perspective in this little devotional paragraph. I hope you enjoy it as I have. --BroJames
APPLES OF GOLD.
Proverbs 25:11
I seem to be standing increasingly alone, for many of my friends are melting away. My brothers, my comrades, and my friends are leaving me for the better land. We have enjoyed holy and happy fellowship in days of peace. We have stood shoulder to shoulder in the Lord’s battle, but they are now melting away.
Proverbs 25:11
I seem to be standing increasingly alone, for many of my friends are melting away. My brothers, my comrades, and my friends are leaving me for the better land. We have enjoyed holy and happy fellowship in days of peace. We have stood shoulder to shoulder in the Lord’s battle, but they are now melting away.
One has gone and then another, and before I look around, another will have departed. I see them for a moment, and then they vanish from my gaze. They do not rise into the air like our Divine Master (Acts 1:9), but I am persuaded that they do rise. It is only the poor body that descends, and that descent is only for a little while. They rise to be forever with the Lord, and the grief is ours who are left behind.
Why this constant thinning of our ranks when the warfare is so difficult? Why are the finest removed? I am sad. I could best express myself in a flood of tears as I survey the line of newly dug graves, but I restrain myself and look on it in a clearer light. The Master is gathering His ripest fruit, and well does He deserve them. He is putting His apples of gold in settings of silver (Prov. 25:11).
When we realize that it is the Lord who desires them to be with Him (John 17:24), it dries our tears and makes us rejoice. We are no longer bewildered because we now understand why the dearest and best are going home:
Father, I long, I faint to see
The place of Thine abode;
I’d leave Thine earthly courts and flee
Up to Thy seat, My God.
The place of Thine abode;
I’d leave Thine earthly courts and flee
Up to Thy seat, My God.
Charles H. Spurgeon, Beside Still Waters, ed. Roy H. Clarke (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1999), 119.
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