50 Day Genesis Challenge, Day 49

"When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people."

                    - Genesis 49:33

Jacob, officially "Israel" now by name (a name which means "God Contends" or "One who strives with God"), with the last breaths of his life, has just prophetically spoken identity, truth and blessings, over and into his Sons, and over and into all of the generations that will follow and flow through each and every one of them. And, in so doing, he has completed and fulfilled the entirety of the missions of his life, and the reasons for which he was put on this earth. He, has finished the race... and now this "heel snatcher" this one who "wrestled with God" and who had "seen God face to face" now draws his own feet into his bed, breaths his last, and is "gathered to his people."

I like that last phrase of the passage. There’s something about it that resonates with my soul and my recent experience of being with my Mom as she was "gathered to her people" on December the 8th, 2019. It’s a reminder and an affirmation to me of our faith, that through faith, death is in reality, a gathering time. A time when, if circumstances allow, the dying person’s family gathers together, shares and receives, blessed "last words" with their loved one, and during the course of that time, at some point determined by the hand of God, the dying person is actually carried from one gathering of family and friends... to another.  

It’s a gathering that takes place on the other side of their last breath. And, if you’ve ever been with someone in and through those precious moments in time, you know that it is also often the experience that during that process, the loved one who is dying begins to see... sometimes persons, sometimes places, and sometimes things, that are a part of the reality that’s on the other side of this one. A reality that, in eternal terms, is so much more real than our own present, "breathing" reality.

Thank You, LORD, for the opportunities I have had as a pastor, as a son, as a nephew, as a grandson and at times, as a friend, to be a part of moments of gatherings like this one. Thank You, LORD, for those who were recently gathered with me as I was with my Mom during her last week, and last moments of life. And, thank You LORD for the faith that comforts and empowers us all to face death, and times of death, as in reality, great victories for believers, for families of faith, and great celebrations and gatherings that take place unseen by us, on the other side of this temporal reality. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

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