The Straits of Dover compress the mighty waters of the North Sea and the English Channel at the very point where they join into a narrow confine which causes all manner of turbulence. Our souls may suffer unrest, pressed at one and the same time by the straits of our old and new natures. We want to abide in the flesh and we have a desire to depart. We scarcely know which presses us harder.
Now it was not on his own account that Paul was so exercised. It was because he could see that there was a great need for his presence and guidance in the infant church. Perhaps we, too, have loved ones who are very dependent upon us, or a work situation which, we feel, cannot be abandoned. Maybe our local church, as far as we can see, has no one to replace us.
We must, before the Lord, come to terms with these thoughts. If we have asked the Lord to spare us, as we are entitled to do, and have been brought into peace of mind that our souls are safe with our Saviour, and that this is our time for preparing to meet Him; then we must likewise commit our loved ones and our situations to our Saviour too. So long as the Lord graciously provided us to care, earn or lead, then there was, of course, no other. But if He is taking us away, will not the same gracious hand provide, albeit differently? Should we not commit the responsibilities we are laying down into His care?
Perhaps we are straitened in our souls, not on account of others but on account of ourselves. We do not really want to leave this world. We want to abide in the flesh. Consider, dear friend, what it entails. Pain, suffering, tears and decay -- is this what we desire to hang on to'! No, of course not, unless it could be as it used to be.
Now perhaps we have not yet fully come to terms with the fact that we are going to die; but even so, was it really all that wonderful in the days of youth? Are we entertaining romantic memories of a golden bygone age which do not, in fact, match up with its tempers, pride, vanity, wilfulness and wasted opportunities -- to speak of nothing else?
Let our minds dwell consistently on this from now on -- that to depart and be with Christ is far better. It was all very well for Paul, we say, to write such things, for he had led a fulfilling life of preaching the gospel and had a great reward to look forward to. So he had. But, describing himself as the chief of sinners (not an exaggeration, for had he not been implicated in the death of the martyr Stephen?) he went on to say, 'howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting'. A pattern to us! We have received mercy for our sins, whatever they were. We also may long to be with Christ, as did Paul.