Secured: Security in Death
In March 2017, Hope Moms from all across the country gathered in Giddings, TX for the annual Hope Mommies Retreat. Together, they spent the weekend sharing the stories of their precious babies, and finding that Christ can indeed comfort the brokenhearted, often through the hands and tears of another sufferer along the way. The theme of the 2018 retreat was “Secured.” In this mini series, our retreat speaker, Lindsey Dennis, takes us through Psalm 91:1-4 in order to give us a greater picture of the security we have been given in Christ.
“For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.”
Psalm 91:3
The first question that comes to mind when I read this verse is, “Wait a second; wasn’t I delivered from this ‘deadly pestilence?’ Was I not making God my refuge? Was I not dwelling rightly with Him?”
Anytime these kinds of questions are stirred in our hearts when we read God’s Word, it is good to pause, dig a little deeper, and ask “Since I’m not experiencing this, what does the author mean?”
For the sake of context, if Moses is the author of this Psalm, (which many believe he is) then this verse could quite literally be speaking of the deliverance from the plagues that passed over his people when they were enslaved in Egypt.
But if we move a little higher, and expand the picture, we know that “pestilence” is also a description of the wrath of God. God’s people were delivered over and over from His wrath. Though it is true that many of God’s people did experience His wrath as individuals, as a nation, although the people of Israel throughout history have been subject to intense suffering, marginalization, and pain, they have never been exterminated. God continues to deliver Israel as a nation. And now, those who call on the name of Jesus, are also grafted in to His promises as we are also His people (Romans 11:11-31).
But if we look even further at the ultimate promise of deliverance, we discover that we are not promised deliverance from every piece of suffering that comes our way, but a total and complete deliverance from death itself. Death no longer has a hold on us or any of those who follow Christ. Death does not, and will not, have the final say. (I Cor. 15:26)
“For He rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.”
(Colossians 1:13)
In order to be delivered from something you have to be in it. You can’t be delivered from something that you are not in. We were in darkness, and we can confidently say that we have been rescued from that darkness, and delivered into the kingdom of God. (For more passages on what we have been rescued from see Ephesians 2:1-7; Isaiah 25:8; Romans 6;6)
It is through the blood of Christ that we are delivered into the Kingdom of God, which also means that we have been delivered into a relationship with our Heavenly Father, and all that is His is now ours (I Peter 1:3-6).
But while these truths are beautiful, wonderful, and glorious to dwell on, we still feel the deep chasm of longing for what we know has not come into full fruition in our lives. We sit in the here and the not yet, and our hearts groan for the hope that we know is coming—when all is made new, and all this pain and brokenness is no longer.
Romans 8:22-25 speaks to this groan when Paul says: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. or in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”
When Dasah died, I groaned deeply. My heart ached with longing for this promise of complete deliverance and redemption more than ever before. And God was covering me in the groaning. He was my refuge in the pain, and He has been abundantly faithful to me even when I could not see or feel it. There was never a day or night when He stopped pursuing me, and revealing Himself to me, even when I wasn’t listening, didn’t want to hear what He had to say, or was angry at what He had revealed.
Our groaning points to the reality that we do not have full deliverance now. But we can have hope now, because God meet us in our pain, and someday He will fully eradicate all suffering. So while we may not experience full deliverance from suffering on this side of heaven, We know that those who know Christ have been and will be delivered. His promises are sure. His deliverance is guaranteed.
What does this deliverance mean for our children who have died?
While you won’t find a passage in the Bible that says, “all children are saved,” what you will see is God’s profound tenderness towards infants and children throughout Scripture. There are several passages that allude to an infant who dies being with God (2 Sam 12:23, Psalm 139, Ezekial 16:4-7, Isaiah 65: 1-25, Matthew 18:3-5). Those passages alone do not give us concrete answers for our children, however, as we study the rich character of God we see a bigger picture.
Psalm 139 is a beautiful depiction of our loving God, who intricately, and purposely weaves each child in the womb of a mother.¹ God has purpose in His creation both of you, and your child.
We can look at the character of God and rightly conclude that somehow He has provided a way for our babies to be covered by the blood of His Son. It is only God’s grace through the blood of Jesus that can cover the sins of our children, for even they were born into sin (see Romans 3:23, Ephesians 3:23). We know that it is not by any merit of their own, but completely based on the mercy and grace of God. God’s promise of deliverance is not only for us, but for our children.
God will redeem our pain and suffering. He may not deliver us from pain this side of Heaven, but He will deliver us to Himself in our pain as we wait for the coming fullness of redemption. And because of this reality, we can be thankful for what God has already done, and for what He has promised is coming.
So in the midst of this deep groaning you feel in your soul, would you take some time to thank God for the ways He has delivered you unto Himself, and for what He has promised He still will do for you?
¹Before Dasah was born, I decided that I wanted to knit her a blanket. I wanted the first thing to touch her skin to be made by me. It took much longer than I had anticipated, but it afforded me time to meditate on Psalm 139, and what it means that we are knitted by God in our mother’s womb. I wrote a poem about that experience from the perspective of Dasah’s blanket. If you would like to read it, I have included the link here.
- Lindsey
Hope Mom to Sophie and Dasah
Hi! I’m Lindsey. I live in Orlando, Florida with my stud of a husband Kevin. We have 3 incredible children, Sophie and Dasah who now live with Jesus, and Jaden who came into our lives through adoption. We have a very energetic golden retriever, and love living in the sunshine state. I get to spend my days loving on my son, investing my life in college students here through a non-profit organization we’re a part of, and when I have time, writing on my blog about the hope that doesn’t disappoint!
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