Have you lost a loved one? Has someone who mistreated you passed on? Have you lost a good friend? Did you mourn equally for each of them? Or were you less upset by one than the others? Have you considered each person has someone who loved them?
When close friends or loved ones pass, we often grieve heavily for them. We may grieve for months or years. There is hole left in our lives that just doesn’t seem to ever get filled. But we don’t have the same emotional reaction when someone who mistreated us passes.
David had a different reaction. Though Saul had attempted to kill David on multiple occasions, David still mourned his death. Saul’s son, Jonathan, was a close friend to David. They were so close, they considered one another brothers. David mourned Jonathan’s death as well, but no more than he mourned Saul’s. David wrote a song for both of them and order it to be taught to all of Judah for them.
Perhaps this is a contributor to David being called a man after God’s own heart. You see, God cares for every person. He desires that every person turn their heart to him. He wants every person to come home to him. Was David concerned for Saul’s soul? We don’t know. Maybe. Or maybe he simply mourned the loss of Israel’s first king. Regardless, David mourned Saul’s death the same as he mourned Jonathon’s.
If we are to have a heart like God’s, we need to mourn the loss of one of his children, especially if that person will never go home to God. Our heart should break as God’s heart breaks. The closest we can come to understanding is to imagine a child of ours who leaves home and never returns. Think about the heartbreak you would feel if that happened to you.
I pray we all mourn the loss of God’s children. I pray our mourning inspires us to seek to bring people to Christ. I pray each one of us imagine losing a child that never came home. Mourn the loss of God’s children. Have a heart like God. Love as God loves. Seek to bring others to Christ.
2 Samuel 1:17 David intoned this lamentation over Saul and his son Jonathan.
Marty Pressey 