Mourning

“Now Sarah lived 127 years; [these were all] the years of her life. Sarah died in Kirath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.” (Genesis 23:1-2)

One morning Abraham got up from his sleep, but Sarah did not. As it became clear that there was nothing anyone could do, that Sarah had died, Abraham went in to her tent room to mourn over her and weep over her. Can you imagine the thoughts and images that raced through his mind?

A hundred twenty-seven years is a long, full life. Assuming Sarah married Abraham at the typical age of 15, that means 112 wedding anniversaries came and went. In our day and time, to celebrate a 60th wedding anniversary is a watershed moment, but 112? That’s a lot of years of living, laughing, and loving together.

The Lord sustained Abraham through his mourning. The Lord gave him the strength to mourn and weep, to lay Sarah’s body to rest in the cave at Machpelah, and then to keep living and walking with Him through the remainder of his life. Abraham’s faith in God created the possibility of his being strengthened for this.

The Lord will sustain us when we go through the loss of a wife or a husband, through this personal faith relationship we have with Him.

Lord, We thank You that Your strength is sufficient for the sorrows we walk through in the loss of one we love. Amen.