It is hard to understand why some active, godly, useful servants of God are taken in their youth. We think in terms of their loss of years on earth, of our loss of their presence, help and service.
But God has a much higher and broader view. He knows what is coming in the future and makes preparation. As it says in Isaiah 57:1, “The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.”
A child dies, a teen-ager is taken in an accident, cancer strikes down a young mother, a heart attack kills a father not yet forty—believers all. Tragedy on a human level–but a rescue mission on a Heavenly level.
God knows what evil awaited that person and those around him; so He protected them all by taking that person home—and does so in the best way and at the right time.
Those saints left behind are heir to God’s rich grace to carry them through the loss, to be deepened spiritually, to see all their needs provided as they trust and praise Him by letting go of the loved person now departed.
Failure to let go can bring more evil. When King Hezekiah was fatally ill, he begged God for more years, and God gave him fifteen more. But during that time Hezekiah fathered the boy who became the worst king that Judah ever had, an evil God was seeking to avert.
To pray for someone seriously sick, “Lord spare his life—but not my will, let your will rule,” is a prayer of trust, of humility and wisdom, just as Jesus prayed in the garden, “Not my will but yours.”
Lord God, you are the only truly wise One, you are the only Knower of the future, so we can trust you in your Goodness and Grace, your Revelation and Release of your children from this world.
Praise you for this high and holy perspective you give us on death. It is not the end, but the beginning of all the goodness you have stored up in eternity for those who love your Name. Glory be to you for your great goodness and graciousness.
