I was reading in the paper a while ago about a couple who were in the airport in line waiting for their flight to leave. As they were talking to the flight attendant, they learned that there was another earlier flight that they could take to their destination. What the couple had no way of knowing was that the flight they were booked on would go down. Sadly, many of the passengers on that flight died.

When I read that story, my thoughts went to a family that had recently lost a son to cancer.

I’ve never lost a child, so I’m not able to fully comprehend the life-long sorrow that a parent must feel. I have pastored several couples whose child has died and have had extended conversations with them about their grief and pain. I understand that there are no words that can bring total comfort with so great a loss.

I just read again a thought-provoking story in my Bible about the death of a young child. It doesn’t answer all of our “why?” questions but, maybe, it will give a little insight to someone whose child has died.

It was about 920 BC and King Jeroboam had taken the throne in Israel, which had split off from Judah, the heart of God’s chosen nation. Jeroboam was noted for his evil ways and his profane self-designed worship, but when his son fell mortally ill, he sent for a true prophet of God to help.

His wife arrived at prophet Ahijah’s door and asked him what would become of their son. Was there any hope on the horizon? Ahijah’s answer provides an answer to the often asked question, “How could God be so cruel and thoughtless as to let a child die?”

He first said to Jeroboam’s wife that their son, Abijah, would indeed die. Then he gave this comment, “All Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s family will come to the grave because in him something good was found toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.”

He died because he was good?

What Ahijah was saying was that the boy was good to the very core of his being. If he had lived on into adulthood, he would have been influenced by the stench of the world around him and the evil would have destroyed the good in him. So because God loved the boy so much, he would let him take an early flight to the wonderful safety of heaven.

Of course, I’m not inferring that the child you know who died was living in an unhealthy family; rather, I believe only God knows the influences that might have touched that dear child if he had lived a long life.

God certainly did not cause the accident or send the disease that took the life of the child. He simply does what He does best — in Abijah’s case, He took a tragic event and brought good out of it.

We may not see the good that will come out of a child’s death at the time — we may only see the sadness and loss — but we do know that God is always good. He always loves us and He is always right. For our part, we can only trust Him.

Like the little boy, Abijah, who took an early flight, the child we said goodbye to is happy and purposeful in heaven. We will be united with them again one day.

Barry Buzza (www.barrybuzza.com and http://barrybuzza.blogspot.com) is senior pastor at Northside church in Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam.