“When I awake, I am still with Thee” (Psalm 139:18).
There is a time for sleeping in Christ, which is one way Scripture describes the death of the Lord’s children.
I love Psalm 17:15, and find myself tying it closely with the verse above, Psalm 139:18. So it all reads:
“As for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Thy likeness when I awake.”
And then, “When I awake, I am still with Thee.”
One day, at a time set by the Lord Himself, I will go to sleep here and awaken on the other side. When that happens, I will be “still with Thee” and will “behold (His) face in righteousness.”
Whatever that is like, “I will be satisfied.”
Whatever that is like, I will be more awake there than I’ve ever been here.
Whatever that is like, I shall “know even as also I am known” (I Corinthians 13:12).
Whatever that is like, we know that while “it does not (yet) appear what we shall be….we shall be like Jesus, for we shall see Him as He is” (I John 3:3).
Scripture calls it sleep, I think, for two reasons: 1) That’s how it appears to us, and 2) it’s possible that some time transpires between our “going to sleep” here and “awakening” over there. God knows, He’s in charge, and whatever He does is fine.
Why do we fear death? I think it’s the unknown part. We shrink from things we know little about.