Precious Death

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his servants.

 - Psalm 116

How can a loving God . . . ?

Well, that statement is always completed with some reference to death, or disease, famine, want.  But really those problems only have resonance because they lead to death.

How can any kind of death be precious to the Lord? Isn't death the last enemy to be destroyed? Isn't death our punishment for sin? 

Perhaps we need to take off our 21st Century understanding of "precious" as something cute, or cuddly, or adorable. Think of "precious," as in, a precious metal. It is something you want to protect, to keep, to save. You do not want harm to come to something precious. 

When a servant of the Lord dies, God's interest piques. He goes into action. He engages the everlasting arms, and keeps you safe, away from all danger. You are home-free. His dead servants have His full attention. He can't wait to rouse you from sleep, back into life. 

So then, the point is not to evade death (shame on you, narcissistic modern Americans!). Rather, make it your prime objective, to became a servant of the Lord! That way, when you die (for we will all die anyway), you will transform that horrible event into something the Lord considers precious.