“Thank you for telling me.” Such was the grateful remark of a lady, lying very ill, to a friend beside her. “Thank you for telling me,” she said, with a smile; “it was just what I wanted to know.”
What was the good news, do you think, that had just been communicated to her, and that called forth such a speech? Was it that some dreaded medicine need no longer be taken? Had the doctor promised relief to her suffering? or had he foretold a quick recovery to health and strength? Was it some intimation of this kind that drew forth those words, amidst her suffering, “Thank you for telling me”?
No, nothing of the sort: The lady we write of was dangerously ill, and her friend had just announced to her the fact that she could last only a short while longer, and that very soon she would pass out of time into eternity.
Reader, can you picture yourself for one moment in such a position? Supposing you were told that in a few hours at the most you would have to face death. Would you be prepared for the news? Would you feel perfectly sure that having had to do with Jesus in this world as Savior, there would be no possibility of meeting Him as judge hereafter? For unless you were certain in your own soul that the question of your sins had been eternally settled by the Lord Jesus on the cross; and that they had been eternally forgiven and forgotten by God, I know you could not face death with other than terror and fear.
Death is a solemn reality, though to the believer the sting is gone. The Lord Jesus came to deliver those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Hence to this lady the prospect of death was a very welcome one. She knew that, for her, it meant passing from this scene of sin and sorrow — ay! and of dishonor to Christ too — to be forever in the presence of the Lord Jesus, which is indeed “far better”. Not a fear, not a doubt, once crossed her mind or harassed her soul; but so glad was she to hear that the time of her departure was at hand, that she could reply, “Thank you for telling me; it is just what I wanted to know.”
Perhaps you fancy that she must have been same saintly being, whose life of religious devotedness made her hope to merit the favor of heaven? But could her lips — now silent in death — speak again, they would tell a very different tale. She would say what a marvel it was that the grace of God should ever have picked her up. And nothing but the “exceeding riches of His grace” would have done so. But God is rich in mercy, and delights in plucking brands from the burning. She said herself one day, “He knew I was worthless before He took me.” Yes, indeed, Jesus knew it all.
“He saw us ruined by the fall,
He loved us notwithstanding all.”
Such was “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.” Although worthless in ourselves, fallen in our nature, sinful in our practice, yet He has set His love upon us; and having died for us, to bring us to God, He now owns us as part of that “pearl of great price” which He sold all that He had to possess.
Can you wonder that she longed to see the One who had done so much for her? She had found that “Thy lovingkindness is BETTER than life” (Psa. 63:33Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. (Psalm 63:3)), and undoubted peace tilled her soul at the prospect of soon being in His presence.
And how is it with you, dear reader? Would such tidings come to you as “the very thing you wanted to know”? Or is the idea of death intolerable to you? Do you shudder at the sight of a funeral? Do you tremble to walk through a cemetery? If so, let me entreat you to delay no longer in seeking that Savior, who has Himself been into death, and broken all its power; and knowing Him, you will be able to triumph in His blessed name, “which quells the power of death.”
“Lord, while our souls in faith repose
Upon Thy precious blood,
Peace like an even river flows,.
And mercy like a flood.”