Funeral: "A temperament of contentment" (Ps 86:12)

FUNERAL MEDITATION: "A TEMPERAMENT OF CONTENTMENT" (Ps 86:12)

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Dr. Paul Manuel—2006

Where below you read "the deceased" Pastor Manuel

inserted the name of the individual.

Some people are oblivious to what is happening around them. They are content to drift along with no particular direction. Others are aware of what is happening around them and are unfazed by it. They are content because they have direction, not a course they control but one under the sovereign hand of a loving God. The deceased was among that second group. Despite the twists and turns he or others he knew encountered, his response to a troubling situation was the same: "It will work out."

 

The deceased was not a fatalist, resigned to endure what life threw at him. He was an optimist, ready to embrace what God had for him. What enabled him to face uncertainty and change with such aplomb, such composure? There may have been several reasons, but one we can cite with some certainty is that the deceased had A Temperament of Contentment, the assurance that someone larger and more powerful than he is directing events to a good end. This did not mean that the deceased sat back and simply watched things unfold. He knew he had to be involved in the process, but he also knew there was a limit to what he could do...although he sometimes pushed that limit beyond what others thought he could do.

 

Many Christians have a "life verse," a biblical passage especially meaningful to them that expresses their approach to life. I do not know if the deceased had such a verse, but if I were to select one based on what I know about him, it might be...

I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and [I] will glorify Your name forever. (Ps 86:12)

This is from "A Prayer of David," a plea that God would answer the petition of an "afflicted and needy" person (Ps 86:1). We do not know what David's problem was, but punctuating his pleas for help are profound expressions of his confidence that the God who had helped him in the past would also meet his current need.

 

David's confidence enabled him to say that, no matter what circumstances he might encounter,

 

I. He was committed to giving unconditional thanks to God.

I will give thanks to You...with all my heart (Ps 86:12a).

Despite his situation, David was not only grateful for what God had done, David was ready to tell God and to hold nothing back in the process. That was the deceased: grateful for what God had done and willing to hold nothing back in expressing it. One of his favorite hymns was Count Your Blessings, which is an admonition to list the good things God has done for you. It is an exercise designed to stir the heart in gratitude, an exercise the deceased must have employed regularly, because he was grateful for what God had done, and he expressed it with all his heart... often at the top of his lungs. Like David, the deceased was committed to giving unconditional thanks to God.

 

David's confidence also enabled him to say that, no matter what circumstances he might encounter,
 

II. He was committed to giving unceasing glory to God.

I will glorify Your name forever (Ps 86:12b).

Despite his situation, David was not only determined to worship God, David was determined to worship God and to do so without interruption. That was the deceased: determined to worship God and to do so without interruption. Another of his favorite hymns was I Long to Glorify Thee, which is a recognition that, in light of what God did and will yet do through Christ's death, resurrection, and return, the best—the only response appropriate—is a life devoted to worshipping Him at all times. Singing was one of the primary ways the deceased expressed devotion to God. It did not matter if he was in the church or in the barn, whether the ones listening were his fellow Christians or his cows. The deceased was committed to giving unceasing glory to God.

 

Whether or not the deceased had a "life verse" or even a favorite biblical passage, this text from Ps 86 seems to express his Temperament of Contentment, his assurance that someone larger and more powerful than he is directing events to a good end. While the deceased surely knew that someone, the deceased has now met Him face-to-face and can continue to express in song the adoration there that was such a part of his life here.
 

On Saturday, when the church met for worship, people recounted aspects about the deceased's life that they remembered, qualities that endeared him to us. As more are gathered today to honor the deceased, there are many things you could recount about his life that you remember, qualities that endeared him to you. While he would surely appreciate all the kind words, and perhaps be a bit embarrassed by them, I do not think there is anything more he would want us to do than to honor the God he loved and served, the God who gave him reason to sing. Let us do that with two more of the deceased's favorite hymns: Count Your Blessings and I Long to Glorify Thee.

For a pdf see here.