What do I tell my friend?

[Surrendered.all]

A friend asked me why his mother died of covid. She was a true mother after God's heart. Her face glowed when she talked about the Gospel. When Mike came to me and said my mom believed and told everyone that God would protect her for she quoted Psalm 91 everytime someone asked her if she had the vaccine.He has been suffering for so long over his mother's death and then this morning he told me this. I am at a total loss of what to tell him. Here is Psalm 91.
My Refuge and My Fortress
Psa 91:1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psa 91:2 This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.
Psa 91:3 For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.
Psa 91:4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Psa 91:5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Psa 91:6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
Psa 91:7 Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you.
Psa 91:8 Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished.
Psa 91:9 If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter,
Psa 91:10 no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home.
Psa 91:11 For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.
Psa 91:12 They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
Psa 91:13 You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
Psa 91:14 The LORD says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name.
Psa 91:15 When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them.
Psa 91:16 I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

 

[Mark Quayle]

A friend asked me why his mother died of covid. She was a true mother after God's heart. Her face glowed when she talked about the Gospel. When Mike came to me and said my mom believed and told everyone that God would protect her for she quoted Psalm 91 everytime someone asked her if she had the vaccine.He has been suffering for so long over his mother's death and then this morning he told me this. I am at a total loss of what to tell him. Here is Psalm 91.
My Refuge and My Fortress
Psa 91:1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psa 91:2 This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.
Psa 91:3 For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.
Psa 91:4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Psa 91:5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Psa 91:6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
Psa 91:7 Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you.
Psa 91:8 Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished.
Psa 91:9 If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter,
Psa 91:10 no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home.
Psa 91:11 For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.
Psa 91:12 They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
Psa 91:13 You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
Psa 91:14 The LORD says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name.
Psa 91:15 When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them.
Psa 91:16 I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

This life is not for this life.

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

 

[Surrendered.all]

This life is not for this life.

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

Forgive my ignorance, what does that mean and how does it apply?

 

[Mark Quayle]

Forgive my ignorance, what does that mean and how does it apply?

You seem to be focused on what God can/will do for you (or whomever), in this life, not knowing that what God is producing in you is not satisfaction with this life, but anticipation of the next, even now enjoying him and loving him, "already, but not yet".

The quote was poetry, not exact doctrine. It involves attitude, confidence in God, and hope in God. It does not guarantee the results shown in the narrative, or, at least, not the results as seen from this temporal (human) point of view.

 

[65James]

The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
Isaiah 57:1
Perhaps God found her more than worthy to escape great judgment coming on the world soon.

 

[Love Fountain]

A friend asked me why his mother died of covid. She was a true mother after God's heart. Her face glowed when she talked about the Gospel. When Mike came to me and said my mom believed and told everyone that God would protect her for she quoted Psalm 91 everytime someone asked her if she had the vaccine.He has been suffering for so long over his mother's death and then this morning he told me this. I am at a total loss of what to tell him. Here is Psalm 91.
My Refuge and My Fortress
Psa 91:1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psa 91:2 This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.
Psa 91:3 For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.
Psa 91:4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Psa 91:5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Psa 91:6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
Psa 91:7 Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you.
Psa 91:8 Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished.
Psa 91:9 If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter,
Psa 91:10 no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home.
Psa 91:11 For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.
Psa 91:12 They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
Psa 91:13 You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
Psa 91:14 The LORD says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name.
Psa 91:15 When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them.
Psa 91:16 I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

Hello,

Condolences and hugs to your friend Mike! Please continue to comfort him while he mourns for his Mom. Maybe ask him how you can help him.

A good question might be, what does Mike think his Mom would tell him?

The subject of Psalms 91 is Rest provided in and for Messiah. Of a truth she rests in her savior by referring to the Psalm.

Perhaps it may help to remind him or let him know that his Mom knew that the flesh and blood body is not her home, she has gone home to be with her Savior per 2Corinthians 5 and is now in her spiritual body per 1Corinthians 15.

The vaccine helps some people and harms some people and has no affect or effect on others, who knows, maybe it could've helped her and maybe all the people who asked if she was vaccinated was the way that God was trying to help her not get covid. Who really knows for sure except God?

The loss of a loved one is very challenging, remind him to focus on the love he and his Mom shared and focus on the good memories they have together.

Keep the faith, keep the hope, keep believing in the promises of God that one day He will wipe every tear!

Hope this helps!

Bless you,
Love Fountain

 

[ViaCrucis]

The best way I know how to respond to this is to talk about my own experience of losing my mother.

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was about 12 years old, and through the chemo and radiation therapy, a mastectomy, and clinging to hope and faith the cancer went into remission. But my second year of high school the doctors discovered that the cancer had metastasized, and it had spread throughout her entire spine. Over the next two years my mom slowly and slowly became more and more sick.

At my church several people came to my mom with what they called words of wisdom, and prayed over her, declared to her that God would heal her, and gave her Scripture that promised she would survive and beat the cancer. We all believed that these personal revelations and words of wisdom were bonafide promises from God. I was convinced, personally, that my mom was going to be okay. No matter how bad she looked, how sick she became, it never really occurred to me that she would actually be gone.

Then one morning, about 5am, my dad came into my room to wake me up, and all he said was "She's gone".

I grieved, I cried, and then I didn't know how to feel. I never blamed God, I never lost faith, I didn't even really start to question some of the stuff people at my church had been saying until a bit later as I had the emotional and mental space to start thinking about that.

That was over 20 years ago now when I lost her. And I'm still working through things. A few years back, just before the pandemic, my dad also passed away--a combination of age, failing health, and various problems cropping up. I was more prepared for when he passed. I still feel the pain of losing both of them.

You might think that I might be able to tell someone who has lost a parent something insightful--some great philosophical answer. But I don't. There's nothing easy, there's no magic pill of philosophy, reason, no grand theological argument that can just give answers to that grief.

In some ways, I don't have words at all. I have a lot of feelings, but how would I articulate them? Words fall short in grief. It just hurts.

I could quote Scripture, and to be sure there is comfort to be found in God's word here. But simply quoting the Bible can't alleviate that pain either. No amount of Bible passages will make the hurt stop, or give a perfect answer that can simply make someone go "Oh, well then it's okay that they died"--because death is never okay. Death always sucks.

The comfort we can have, in Scripture, is that Scripture points us to God's response to death. It points to Jesus. God doesn't give us a system of philosophy, there's no set of words that just fixes everything, or explains everything. Questions are not answered, "Why this Lord?" "Well because of X, Y, and Z". Instead, we, in the midst of grief, exasperated ask--into the void--why? And God's answer is Jesus, God points to His Son, suffering on the cross, and tells us that's where to look. That's the answer.

Faith is not built upon a life of happiness and the avoidance of sorrow and suffering. Faith meets marrow in pain. It knows God in suffering. Faith is to meet God in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Because on the other side of that cross is resurrection.

We are like a people who have lived in the perpetual shadow of nighttime. As though we had never seen the sun rise, and warm our faces, or allow us to view all the many colors of creation. And the message of the empty tomb is the message to a person who has lived in perpetual night, "the sun will rise in the morning".

It will be warm, but all I've known is cold.
It will be bright, but all I've known is shadow.
It will be filled with the sound of birds singing, and life living, but all I've known is the silence.

The sun will rise in the morning. Right now it is the night.
Christ suffered and died. He rose again.
Despair will give way to repair.
Sorrow will give way to joy.
Grief will give way to song.
Death will give way to resurrection.

And the sun will rise.

Look to Jesus. Grieve, hurt, feel it all--but look to Jesus.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Joseph G]

Hello,

Condolences and hugs to your friend Mike! Please continue to comfort him while he mourns for his Mom. Maybe ask him how you can help him.

A good question might be, what does Mike think his Mom would tell him?

The subject of Psalms 91 is Rest provided in and for Messiah. Of a truth she rests in her savior by referring to the Psalm.

Perhaps it may help to remind him or let him know that his Mom knew that the flesh and blood body is not her home, she has gone home to be with her Savior per 2Corinthians 5 and is now in her spiritual body per 1Corinthians 15.

The vaccine helps some people and harms some people and has no affect or effect on others, who knows, maybe it could've helped her and maybe all the people who asked if she was vaccinated was the way that God was trying to help her not get covid. Who really knows for sure except God?

The loss of a loved one is very challenging, remind him to focus on the love he and his Mom shared and focus on the good memories they have together.

Keep the faith, keep the hope, keep believing in the promises of God that one day He will wipe every tear!

Hope this helps!

Bless you,
Love Fountain

Great answers. Additional encouragement:

Hebrews 11:13-16 NIV

"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

 

[AlexB23]

Another thing to tell your friend Surrendered All is that Mike's mother is with God. We are all God's flock, as Christians, and God can call us up to his city at any moment. We should rejoice in the fact that Mike's mom is with her closest friend in life: Jesus Christ.

 

[Josheb]

A friend asked me why his mother died of covid. She was a true mother after God's heart. Her face glowed when she talked about the Gospel. When Mike came to me and said my mom believed and told everyone that God would protect her for she quoted Psalm 91 everytime someone asked her if she had the vaccine. He has been suffering for so long over his mother's death and then this morning he told me this. I am at a total loss of what to tell him. Here is Psalm 91.
My Refuge and My Fortress
Psa 91:1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psa 91:2 This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.
Psa 91:3 For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.
Psa 91:4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Psa 91:5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Psa 91:6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
Psa 91:7 Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you.
Psa 91:8 Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished.
Psa 91:9 If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter,
Psa 91:10 no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home.
Psa 91:11 For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.
Psa 91:12 They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
Psa 91:13 You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
Psa 91:14 The LORD says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name.
Psa 91:15 When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them.
Psa 91:16 I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

"Why did my mom die of COVID?"

"What do you think?"
"Tell me more."


That is what you say. There is a reason that question is asked and explanation of virology or theology is not going to answer the presuppositional matter underneath the question asked. It cannot speak to loss and grief. Those are soul concerns, matter s of the heart, not the head. Sitting and listening may well be the answer.