{"id":5087,"date":"2014-03-02T00:05:34","date_gmt":"2014-03-02T08:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=5087"},"modified":"2014-03-01T23:07:31","modified_gmt":"2014-03-02T07:07:31","slug":"death-comes-as-no-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2014\/03\/02\/death-comes-as-no-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Death Comes As No Surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now when they set out from Kadesh, the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. <\/p>\n

Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying, \u201cAaron will be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah. <\/p>\n

\u201cTake Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up to Mount Hor; and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron will be gathered to his people, and will die there.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Moses did just as the LORD had commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. <\/p>\n

After Moses had stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on the mountain top. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. <\/p>\n

When all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days. (Numbers 20:22-29)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Death comes to us all. One day, the world will go on without us. It will not even give us a moment\u2019s thought, any more than we spare a moment\u2019s thought for our great grandparents whom most of us wouldn\u2019t recognize and whose names we probably don\u2019t even know.<\/p>\n

God told Aaron the precise moment and place when he would die. Like a prisoner on death row, God led him to Mount Hor and while everyone watched, his life ended. It was a sad time for Aaron, a sad time for Moses and a sad time for the people of Israel who set aside the traditional month for mourning. It was not a happy time for God, either. <\/p>\n

As much as God wants us to be happy, the reality is that there are times when sadness is not only appropriate, but inevitable. Jesus wept at Lazarus\u2019 tomb, even though he knew that within moments Lazarus would walk out very much alive. God knew that Aaron would not stay dead forever. The resurrection would come. But the promise of resurrection does not make the current moment of pain go away. Face the pain, acknowledge it, and mourn. <\/p>\n

Aaron\u2019s death was no surprise, but the Israelites were still sad for a long time. Don\u2019t think you can\u2019t or shouldn\u2019t be sad. And don\u2019t think you have to get over your loss immediately. Take however long you need. But also know, that sooner or later, the time of mourning will come to an end\u2014whether in thirty days or longer\u2014and you\u2019ll go back to living your life.<\/p>\n

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Now when they set out from Kadesh, the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying, \u201cAaron will … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5087"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5087"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5090,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5087\/revisions\/5090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}