You can’t escape life without experiencing the death of a loved one.
If that in itself were not enough, funeral arrangements and processing all the “What now?” moments can be a tidal wave of mind and soul numbness. While the Bible gives us stories of miracles and victory and beauty and life, it also gives us stories of deep grief.
This is one of them.
One thing I notice in this chapter is there is not a single mention of God. Sarah is the first word of the story and her death (we’re not told how she died) is the background for all the interactions that follow.
So what do we do with a story like this? There are no easy verses to slap on a motivational poster. No immediate life applications or sermon illustrations
We have Abraham, the father of faith, grieving for his dead wife dealing with the burial arrangements.
We can enter the story as Abraham. We all have or will experience grief like this.
We can also enter the story as Ephron the Hittite. I wonder who might be around me that is experiencing deep grief and how I might walk with them, arm around their shoulder, alleviating that sorrow?
Of all the stories that happened in the long life of Abraham, the biblical writer includes this one. Why do think that is?
What about you? What do you see?
Fiftyeight 