When A Child Dies

What happens when a child dies?  What happens when you and many others pray for God to save your child and your child still dies?  How do you deal with that?  Do you lose your faith?  Does your faith become stronger?  What happens? 

The Bible gives us answers to these questions.  The Bible tells us the story of David.  David is described as a "man after God's own heart."  God loved David very much.  The first child that David had with Bathsheba became gravely ill.  The Bible says that, "David pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground."  

David's servants tried to get him up from the ground and feed him but David refused.  David is so upset that his servants are afraid that David will do something to himself.  For seven days, David pleads with God to save his son.  On the seventh day, the child dies and the servants are afraid to tell David.  

However, David overhears the servants talking and perceives that his child was dead, and asks them if the child died and they said yes.  David then rose from the ground, washed up, worshipped God, and requested food to eat.  The servants are totally confused.  They said to David, "You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food."  

David told the servants, "While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live.'  "But now he is dead; why should I fast?  Can I bring him back again?  I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me."

What David is saying is this:  When our loved one dies, whether it be a baby, sibling, parent, grandparent, that it's ok if God did not grant us our prayer that they would live.  We will go to them when it is our time.  We will see them again in the next life.  Not to worry.  We'll see them again.  Amen.