Chapter 11: God’s Eternal Character
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God preordained Jackie’s time on this earth. He specified the day and hour she would die. Before she died, Jackie told me: “God has told me that my time on this earth is finished.” Before she died, God confirmed the same thing to my spirit. Not just that much either. God showed me the color of
her casket ahead of time; He showed me her laying inside the casket when I identified it; He gave me her eulogy message; He gave me the details of her funeral service, including the music that would be played; and, He told me one week ahead of time the day she would die, the day of the wake, the day of the funeral service, and the day of her internment [all different days] at
Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis. If you think I wanted to hear this, you are wrong. I just wanted her to stay with me. Yet, God has showed me that this is all part of His bigger picture. I accept this from God and yet He has left me free to still weep, as my spirit needs. Not so with the
Prophet Ezekiel. God told him not to weep.
“Then the Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ‘Human, I am going to take your wife away from you, the woman you
look at with love. She will die suddenly, but you must not be sad or cry loudly for her or shed any tears. Groan silently; do not cry loudly for the dead. Tie on your turban, and put your sandals on your feet. Do not cover your face,
and do not eat the food people eat when they are sad about a death.’ ” Ezekiel 24:15-17 NCV
God has told me to move on beyond Jackie’s death, but He didn’t say
that I could not mourn. Ezekiel the prophet, however, was given a task to show the people of Israel that God was real. Doing so meant that he could not show any outward grief when his wife died. He obeyed God because he saw God’s bigger picture and, we can all learn from Ezekiel’s obedience.
Prophet Ezekiel Saw God’s Bigger Picture!
Apostle Paul also saw God’s bigger picture and writes that his
followers should not lose heart because he had to suffer on their account.