A Believer's Response To Death Series

A young Harvard professor sat in a room once occupied by

George Washington. He was exceedingly lonely and dejected. He

wondered if that great man ever felt as he did then. He had lost his

wife 3 years before, and had not yet been able to escape from the grip

of grief. His life seemed to be an empty dream, and though he was

also a poet he no longer had any heart for poetry. As he sat there

looking out of the window he realized he had to stop nursing his

despondency and get up and get going.

Almost as if he was inspired his poetic began to pour forth lines

that lifted him, and have since lifted millions. No poem ever became

so famous so fast. It was taught in schools, discussed in pulpits, and on

platforms all over the world. It was translated into many languages.

At one time a poll revealed it to be the favorite poem of this nation,

and even now it is heard quite often. I want to share just a portion of

Longfellow's poem, The Psalm Of Life.

"Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is not dead that slumbers, And things are not what they

seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust

thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each tomorrow Finds us further than today.

Trust no future, how e'er pleasant! Let the dead past bury its dead!

Act, -act in the living present! Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime And,

departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time; Footprints,

that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main, A forlorn and

shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. Let us then be up

and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait."

We want to look back to a great man who left behind footprints in

the sands of time. They were footprints that have done just what

Longfellow predicted they could. They have caused many a forlorn

and shipwrecked brother to take heart again. The way David

responded to the death of his loved one has encouraged and helped

many to escape the sinking ship of despair, and to stand on the solid

rock of hope and victory. All of us will one day face the sorrow of

losing a loved one, and many of you have already done so. Since the

experience of death is continuous and inevitable, it is important that

we be prepared at all times to respond to it with attitudes that are

fitting for those who know the conqueror of death, and who is the Lord

of life.

The mind and the will must be prepared before hand, and so I trust

that our examination of David's attitude toward death will make a

conscious impact on each of our lives. And prepare us to be fully

Christian in the day of crisis. There are three attitudes that David

exhibits, or three footprints he has left in the sand along the shore of

the sea of tragedy. They are footprints that each of us will want to

follow when we come to that same place. David has been involved in

one sin after another that has brought him to an hour of judgment.

God has determined that the child born to Bathsheba, as David's wife,

but conceived out of wedlock, shall die. The child becomes very sick,

and David faces the death of one he love dearly. The first attitude we

see him exhibit is-

I. PERSISTENCE.

David had faith that God is able to deliver, and he was determined

to fight to the end. He was told point blank that the child would die,

but he did not give up in despair. He went to his knees in prayer. He

prayed and fasted in the hope that God would spare the child. In

verse 22 he says he had hope right to the end. As long as the child was

alive the only proper attitude he could have was that of persistent

trust and faith that God could prevent the death of the child. David

did not pray and fast in fear, but in faith. David's attitude was, where

there is life there is hope, and those who know the author of life need

never despair as long as there is life.

It is not Christian to give up in the face of any amount of negative

evidence. Henry Amiel said, "It is dangerous to abandon one's self to