I do not know much about the valley of the shadow of death but I have glimpsed it recently and this is what I have learned. Death brings the stark reality of what this particular type of separation does. Death for the believer is not like other deaths. We live in the temporal, realizing all the time that at some point we will step into the eternal and everything will be different then. What was put asunder will be put together; what was broken will be made whole; what was separated will be joined. Here's my favorite part…this coming back together will be forever and ever.
That's the beauty of the physical death…it cannot hold sway. I praise God for that! But let's not be too dismissive here. For the moment…in the moment, the temporary separation that death brings hurts and it hurts deeply. For those that find themselves in this grieving process…in this valley of the shadow of death…logic and reason offer very little comfort, if any at all, and the journey of separation is painful. But there is also a knowing. A sweet knowing that in the end, death gives way to life for those who believe on the name of Jesus.
To be sure, death is inevitable. But there is something else that is inevitable. We WILL be together again…and not only together but healed in every way. Every thought…healed…every ache whether emotional, mental or physical healed. And loneliness is replaced with the sweet fellowship that possesses such an intimacy that it can only come from the one who has defeated death by His own death…even death on a cross! I know that soon I must say goodbye to one I love so much…but I also know that one day I will say goodbye to death. So for now, to the one I love so much, I also say…"soon".