Precious

There is a lovely verse in Psalm 116 which causes me to marvel about God’s care for His people:

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” (Verse 15)

How is the death of a saint “precious” to God? John Piper, writing after the death of two good friends, explains:

“The death of every saint is a demonstration to all creation that Christ's atoning death was gloriously successful. It was not in vain. Therefore, the arrival of every saved saint in heaven is another trumpet-tribute to the preciousness of Christ's life and death on this earth. He must (it seems to me) take each one by the hand, as it were, and lead the saint to the Father, and say, "Look! Another trophy! Another 'fruit of my travail.' Another sinner saved and soul made perfect. O Father, look what we have wrought! Is this not precious!" ”

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

God loves His people. When we think of our loved one’s death, we, who are left behind, tend to focus on the details of how the person we miss so much left this world, and on the pain of life now without him. God, though, turns our attention to how he was welcomed into a better life beyond this one. From this perspective, the death of a saint can be a reminder of the Lord’s special care for His children. He has a perfect life of future blessing prepared for each one of them.

God loves His saints more than we do. He proved this through the life and death of His own precious Son. Without the Cross and the reality of Heaven, we would not see our loved ones again, and their deaths could never be spoken of as something “precious.”