Enlightened Hope

Why Do Good People Die?

“I will go to him one day”

2 Sam 12:13-23
13 Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. 14 Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the Lord by doing this, your child will die.”
15 After Nathan returned to his home, the Lord sent a deadly illness to the child of David and Uriah’s wife. 16 David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. 17 The elders of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused.
18 Then on the seventh day the child died. David’s advisers were afraid to tell him. “He wouldn’t listen to reason while the child was ill,” they said. “What drastic thing will he do when we tell him the child is dead?”
19 When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. “Is the child dead?” he asked.
“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
20 Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions, and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate.
21 His advisers were amazed. “We don’t understand you,” they told him. “While the child was still living, you wept and refused to eat. But now that the child is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again.”
22 David replied, “I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, ‘Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me.” NLT

Now why did I start of with these verses?  Well, firstly, it’s a story about a baby.  King David’s baby has died.  King David, in verse 22, is saying that his baby “cannot return to him” because the Lord has taken him, but that he can, one day, go to where he is – Heaven!.

Have you ever thought that there might be babies in Heaven?  Has this ever crossed your mind?  OK, so there might be babies in Heaven; what has this got to do with the topic of “Why Do Good People Die?”.

Hmm, as what mostly happens with me, this blog or thought or revelation is kind of hard to birth.  You see, I believe there are children and babies in Heaven.  I believe that every miscarried and aborted baby is in Heaven.  This brings me to the next question.  What happens to them when they get there?  Are they instantly transformed into a mature 30 year old person?  How do they get that maturity?  I mean, the Bible tells us that we are going to have new bodies (1 Cor 15:54) so we aren’t going to be sucked up into some ‘cosmic collective conscienseness’ devoid of being a seperate being.  So, I’m wondering, how do these babies go from babies to maturity?  Perhaps some of you may be thinking I am missing something and that the baby has a spirit so the baby instantly become Spiritually mature in the presence of God.  I don’t believe instantly so.

Let me tell you a story, which you can believe or disbelieve.  It’s quite personal so I may end up looking foolish to some.  Anyway, I while back now, our church lost a very gracious sister.  She was/is a great lover of God and of her children and her family.  She also had/has a very strong relationship with the Lord.  Sadly, she battled with cancer and went to be with the Lord.  Thankfully she had “built her house upon the Rock before the storm” (Matt 7: 24-27).  Her funeral was such a mournful and also such a joyous time.

In my prayer time for her family I saw her in Heaven, ministering and nurturing very young children.  I told the husband about this.  It was such an amazing picture of this gracious women loving God and serving Him in Heaven by ministering and nuturing these children.

So here is my point.  “Why Do Good People Die?”  I had an understanding, in that moment, of why God wanted such a precious person in Heaven.  There are so, so many babies and children dying in this world.  God needs good people to serve Him, and to serve the children in Heaven, bringing them to maturity.

In Heaven we are going to worship our Lord and we are going to serve Him and serve our brothers and sisters in Christ.

All praise and honour and glory and power to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, for ever and ever, Amen.