https://odb.org/2024/07/24/my-true-refuge
If we have been with our spouse, say, for fifty years, from courting days until we grow old together like the Chinese say, from dark hair to grey hair, it may be really tough and difficult for us to carry on living if our spouse departs the earth before us. We would have been through thick and thin, from having little to more, with sickness and good health, to raising children when they were babies to young and seeing them through until past their tertiary education into their own working and even marriage lives and for some, tending to our children’s children! That is why it is not uncommon for spouses to depart one after another, in close succession, as the loss may be too much for some to bear, like an unfillable vacuum.
But as believers and children of the Most High, the Almighty God, the Great I Am – we know our lives are not in our hands but in Him, our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 14:8, it is written: If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. In other words, as much as it is difficult to carry on living, we must, for the sake of Christ, as Christ redeemed us and died for our sins for a purpose. We are now the Lord’s. Our lives are not our own.
It is true, as proven from ancient times even during the time of the Psalms, that our LORD is our true rock and refuge. When our world crashes down and we don’t want to live anymore, He is our shield and our strong deliverer. He gives us help and protects us. He is our tower and our stronghold.
Nevertheless, God is spirit, and we are mortals living here on earth dealing with flesh and blood day in, day out. As much as our battles are against spiritual powers in heavenly places, our daily living is in the natural, and we are very much a part of the affairs of the world, even as we are not of the world.
As much as God will be our ultimate source of solace and comfort if we ever need to face the harsh reality of losing our soulmate early, my view is that, in the natural, we should completely immerse ourselves in fulfilling God’s plans and purposes for our lives, in ministry and serving Him. Witness and preach the Gospel. Train up and make disciples for His Kingdom. In no time, we will grow old like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Joshua and David, and the many great and mighty men and women of God before us, and the time will come for us to depart this earth and be reunited with our loved one in heaven.
Ronnie's Thoughts 