“What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? – Psalm 30:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 22, 2019): Psalm 30

What happens after you die?  As far as specifics, I really don’t know. But I share Job’s statement of faith.

            I know that my redeemer lives,
                        and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
                And after my skin has been destroyed,
                         yet in my flesh I will see God;
                I myself will see him
                         with my own eyes—I, and not another.
             How my heart yearns within me (Job 19:25-27)!

I have read books that have issued visions of what heaven, and hell, are like. But to be honest, I haven’t been overly impressed. And I am not sure that it is important that I know what heaven or hell might be like. Some things have to be a matter of faith.

Maybe part of what I don’t like about our contemporary world is that we seem adept at removing the mystery of life. We can explain everything, and that might not be a good thing. I am not sure that I need to know everything. Some things have to be left as a matter of faith.

David is unclear about what happens after death. It is a mystery to him. And so he has questions. And as he writes the psalm, it is his questions that come out. If I die, will I still be able to praise you. Will the dust praise you if I can’t? All of this is a mystery to David, and he vocalizes these questions as he writes.

For David, the revelation was only partial. In Jesus, we know more, and yet not all. There is still a mystery about life and death that has yet to be revealed. But Jesus, himself, did directly answer David’s question. David asked if the dust would praise God? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Jesus answer is yes. “I tell you,” he replied, “if they [my disciples] keep quiet, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40).

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 31