Day 29 – Issue 20

Be Still Know

Psalm 90:6 NLT

‘In the morning it blooms and flourishes, but by evening it is dry and withered.’

Life is often compared to the seasonal life of plants. Here the psalmist references the botanical metaphor of grass growing and fading. We have a long and extensive garden, the last third of which we have allowed to grow wild. The grass in our wild patch grows tall and vibrant during the summer months, and fades and retracts through the autumn and winter. It’s a natural phenomenon that helps my garden management.

Interestingly, we are sown into this world. Biologists speak of the seed that fertilises the egg to create life; a human from the moment of conception. Obviously, seeds have many obstacles to overcome if all that they contain is to break free, flourish and flower. A handful of seeds provide no indication of what they contain, as with each human seeded into the earth. However, just like that seed, we have the potential to grow, flower, set seed and then die.

Like the flowers that fade and disappear through the winter, come spring, new life emerges from the spoil. It’s a reminder that though our bodies fade and ultimately die, they fall into the ground and re-emerge as a redeemed body in ways only ever hinted at through scripture. Paul is clear that since Christ rose bodily, so shall we (1 Coringthians 15). Many questions remain unanswered, yet one thing is for sure – we shall be raised as new life emerges from the old, our life on earth transformed.

This offers much hope, for we can confidently assert that death, while daunting and perhaps experienced through difficult circumstances, is no more than a door to a future risen life with Christ. As such it serves us well to speak positively and publicly about death as something we must experience yet need not fear.

QUESTION: Do you fear death itself and not simply the manner of dying?

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, your resurrection victory over sin and death is my hope of new life now and everlasting life to come.