The books of the Old Testament are full of descriptive language which helps the reader visualize certain events. For example, rather than saying "there was an earthquake", we read “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them”. Or, (as in today's text), rather than using the term "death", we read the gentle phrase, “I will gather you to your fathers”.

While the Old Testament doesn’t say a lot about Heaven, in Psalm 73:24-26 we read “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (NIV)

Sadly, most Christians today don't seem to think much about Heaven at all, except perhaps at a funeral.

Why is that? Why do so many of us ignore our future hope? What causes us to neglect this glorious promise? Why do we want so much of our present earthly pleasures rather than focusing on our future Heavenly bliss? Is it because we simply can't fathom what Heaven will be like? Is it because we dread the thought of dying?

Somehow only those desperately ill (or weary of life’s sorrows) can hear the whisper of heaven above the shout of this life.

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." Philippians 3:20-21 (NIV)

A very readable Puritan writer, Richard Baxter (writing on heaven) said, “If we but believed the promises of God we should be as impatient of living as we are fearful of dying.” He also said, “Let him not wish to die who does not wish to see Christ.”

These are challenging thoughts. We don't have to be seriously ill to have thoughts about heaven and our destination with Christ. We'll be better able to live in this world the more we think of the next.

The Bible calls on us to set our hearts and minds on things above and not on the things of earth. This is the secret of living the good life here and now. Then, when this world robs us of health, wealth, friends, loved ones, whatever, we'll still have our compass intact and be able to chart our course well.

If this world comes first in our lives, we shall surely lose all and be eternally miserable. Only by trusting in Jesus, the only Saviour, can we cope and live confidently. Then we shall know the promise in the verse for today. God Himself shall place loving arms around us at the end and gather us home to where we truly belong.

“Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Psalm 16:9-11 (NIV)