In my logical mind, I know that God already knows the number of our days before we were conceived. The day we will be born and the day we will die.
In my emotional mind, in the face of death the world feels as if everything is out of control and God is desperately sought and pleaded with to make sense of a tragedy, which is pretty much anything in my mind beyond natural old age.
Grief. Loss. Both of my daughters dads.
How do I comfort my daughter who's dad committed suicide that God knew. The date was written, God is still in control.
How do I comfort my daughter who's dad is dying of ALS Lou Gehrig's that the disease didn't happen by accident. God knows.
I needed reminded.
I'm reading the book I'd Rather Be Laughing, when a chapter catches my attention titled, The Right Time to Die. Marilyn Meberg writes:
I'd like to discuss a couple of other issues with death. One of them is the idea of premature death. Because Ken was fifty when he died. I have often thought and even said his death was premature. Actually, as you probably already know, that this is an unbiblical concept. There is no such thing as premature death. Job 14:5 states "Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and set limits he cannot exceed."
And Psalms 139:16 says, "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
I find that realization comforting. In fact, it could be a cheer-up thought. To recognize God's sovereign determining of the number of days each of us is to have on earth relieves me of nagging questions like, "If I had just done this, eaten that, stayed home, not stayed home ..."
This is not some kind of Christian fatalism in which we assume it doesn't matter if we take health and safety precautions. On the contrary, Scripture says our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, and we must respect them as well as do our part in preserving them. But tension is released in me as I remember that the number of my days is in His hands and not mine.
Based on Scripture, then, I can say that God did not intend for Ken to stay on earth one day longer than he did. Based on Scripture, he did not die prematurely. He was ushered into God's presences at exactly the time God had chosen for him.
I've captured this reminder for me with my girls, when I need logic to override emotion as Eric's death is close.
I've captured this for my girls, for when the date of my own earthly departure happens, to remind them all of my days were ordained for me before I came to be.
Premature death is an earthly concept. A concept very difficult to remember when emotions are raw.
