Dirges, Grief, And Other Sad Things Series

THE VERY RELATABLE LIFE OF KING DAVID

DIRGES, GRIEF, AND OTHER SAD THINGS

2 Samuel 1:1-27, Psalm 55:1-23

#kingdavid

INTRODUCTION

When I think about grief, three episodes in my life come to mind.

First, I think about a gentleman with whom I served for over 9 year in ministry. Up until recently, I had served with him almost 50% of my time being a minister. I served with John A. Meisenbach from 2006 to 2015 (9 years) at New Beginnings Christian Church in Tampa, Florida. John, upon his anticipated retirement from ministry in 2016, would have served at one church for 40 years as the senior minister. That is quite a thing to serve the Lord not only for 40 years, but all in one place. He suddenly died on September 11, 2015 just a few months before his anticipated retirement. September 11th that year was a Friday. I preached that Sunday just two days later after an important mentor of mine passed away. John was important to me in many ways. He was important to many people. In fact, he was so important we had to spread his funeral over two days. It is weird being the minister for folks who are grieving while you yourself are grieving. I had to put my grief on hold in order to help other people who for do very many, had lost the only pastor they had ever known.

Second, I also think about the death of Vera Loree Lynn of Longmont Colorado who died at the young age of 87 in August of 2018. She was my grandmother. It was her wish that her favorite minister preside over her funeral… that of course being… me. Her second favorite minister was also there, Rick Rusaw, who at the time was the senior minister of the very large church she had went to for over 50 years. I was fine to speak and preside over the funeral until I walked into the sanctuary a good amount of time before the visitation and I saw her casket. I placed my hand on the casket and a flood of emotion came over me. I have a strange attitude about death. If I know someone who dies and I know they are a believer, I have absolutely no sadness. I have no fear or sadness about my own death because I firmly believe that the moment I close my eyes in this life that Jesus has me in the next. I am not sad. I am not afraid. Many times, I feel heartless because of my view of death. I had not expected to have sadness for my grandmother, but the emotions were quite strong that day in that moment as I touched her casket. It is almost like I physically had run into a wall.

Third, I think about Lily Jeremiah Borst. We adopted our dog Lily from the Tampa Humane Society in 2013. The story of how we got Lily is a funny one and one where I learned a big lesson. We were thinking and discussing getting a dog and had seen one on a Humane Society video that would be great for our family. It all came down to my decision. I had decided no. In my sermon on a Sunday, I was preaching about a particular topic and mentioned that we were thinking about getting a dog and that I had decided ‘not’ to get a dog. Abby started to cry and sobbed the rest of the service. We had Lily two hours after church ended. She died from cancer just a few months ago after she had been our family pet for almost 10 years. She was definitely a city dog, but adapted well to southern Indiana. Our house is empty in many ways without her. Kelly and I have decided not to get another dog because we do not want to feel the same way again.

So, when I think about ‘grief,’ those three episodes in my life come to mind. There are others of course, but immediately when I hear the word ‘grief’ or ‘grieve,’ that is where my mind and heart settle.

GRIEF

The English word ‘grief’ comes from the old French word which means ‘a burden’ which in turn came from the Latin word which meant ‘heavy’ or ‘grave.’ Our English word for ‘grave’ also comes from the same word. I mention those little language factoids because the word ‘grief’ is a heavy word that means a lot and it touches all of us. All of us deal with grief. This is an emotion that is complicated so we have many words to describe it: sorrow, heartache, anguish, angst, misery, unhappiness, and woe.

2 SAMUEL 1

We are continuing a sermon series on the life of David in the Bible which we find in 1 and 2 Samuel. We are looking at David because we get to see his life with its ups and downs unlike anyone else in all of Scripture. His life is very relatable and teaches us much about life, spiritual truths, relationships, and so much more. Today, we are moving from 1 Samuel into 2 Samuel. 1 Samuel 31 ends with 13 verses describing the death of King Saul and his three sons in battle with the Philistines.