Death & Destiny

Help me understand why I'm still alive and others have been taken...too soon, many would say. This year alone we have had to write four sympathy cards. Four cards expressing our sorrow along with grieving parents. Four unexpected deaths of young children. Four lives that are no more. My feeling is that four is four too many. How I long for the day when death will no longer plague our existence. I feel so helpless in the face of this unimaginable sorrow.

This year seems to have been characterized by premature deaths in the lives of so many for whom I care deeply. Friends have lost parents suddenly, parents have had to say goodbye to their beloved children and countless others have passed from one world to the next due to famine, sickness and wars. Am I connected to all of these individuals? No, but death has impacted me in a greater sense during the past several months. I've felt the sting, watched as others grieve, longed to offer some sort of healing and attempted to sympathize with the sorrowing to the best of my ability. And somehow that is never enough -- I fall short every time.

It is hard not to ask why. Why would a loving God allow these horrible things to happen? Why so soon? There was so much potential in each of those lives, promise for the future. And yet, I know the answer. We live in a sin-cursed world, and until Christ comes and establishes His kingdom on earth, we will continue to reap the results of that reality. Knowing the truth doesn't always make dealing with the destruction any easier. And as much as I would like to be able to explain the rationale to those left behind, I am simply unable.

"Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom 

and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are His judgments 

and how inscrutable His ways!

For who has known the mind of the Lord, 

or who has been His counselor?

Or who has given a gift to Him 

that he might be repaid?

For from Him and to Him and 

through Him are all things.

To Him be glory forever

Amen."

~ Romans 11:33-36 ~

My heart cries out for answers, and His response is to reveal more of His character to me. I know He is 

Loving. (Ps. 36:7)

                           Sovereign. (Acts 4:24)

                                                               Just.  (Deut. 32:4)

                                                                                           Faithful. (Deut. 7:9)

And He has a plan for me -- bigger than I could ever imagine. (Jer. 29:11-12)

So, since I am still present on this terrestrial globe, He must have work for me to do. I still have things He wishes me to accomplish; lives to impact, hearts to encourage and growth to experience. 

This life is not the end, eternity stretches far beyond any life expectancy a person might have. Armed with that knowledge, I must live with that perspective. None of us know how many days with which we will be gifted, or when we will take our last breath. And, wonder of all wonders...there is hope. 

"Blessed be the God and Father 

of our Lord Jesus Christ! 

According to His great mercy, 

He has caused us to be born again 

to a living hope through the 

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

to an inheritance that is imperishable, 

undefiled, and unfading, 

kept in heaven for you, 

who by God’s power are being guarded 

through faith for a salvation 

ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you rejoice, 

though now for a little while, if necessary, 

you have been grieved by various trials, 

so that the tested genuineness 

of your faith—more precious than gold 

 that perishes though it is tested 

by fire—may be found 

to result in praise and glory 

and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

I Peter 1:3-7