Live Long and Prosper?

Have you ever wondered or asked yourself this questio: why do some die young, while others live really long lives? You can come up with all of the greatest ideas as to why God lets one person live and takes another. You've perhaps heard it said that someone “dies before their time.” Just by simply uttering these words we are assuming that we are promised a long life on earth. We’re operating more under the doctrine of Spock from Star Trek when he said, “Live long and prosper.” The Bible makes no such guarantees for a long existence in this world. The Bible says that our times are in His hands. It also tells us that "there is a time to be born, and a time to die" (Ecclesiastes 3:2 NLT). We don't really get any say regarding the date of our birth or our death. Then again, we have a lot to say about that space in the middle: "So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12 NKJV). To "number our days" means to make the most of our time.

Sometimes even we preacher-types don’t have all of the answers. (Shock!) Sometimes we all need to realize that it’s okay if we don’t understand everything completely. I think back the the fact that I will probably never know why God calls home some who are so young. And even if I did know why, I seriously doubt that I would fully understand. God’s ways are higher and better than ours. Who are we to doubt or second guess the one who made the universe? Isaiah 55:8-9 puts it this way, 8"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

But one day I will get it. The Bible promises that, saying, "Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now" (1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT).

So why does God take choice servants "before their time"? Take Stephen for example. Stephen was a young man, and yet he became the first martyr of the early Church. But how did God use these circumstances? In Stephen's case, God used it to get the believers, who seemed to be "landlocked" in Jerusalem, out of their comfortable "holy huddle" and take the gospel to the other regions. Because of the wave of persecution against the Church following Stephen's death, the believers spread out, and so did the gospel. Then, the very man hunting them ended up coming to Christ! That is, of course, Saul of Tarsus who became the great apostle Paul.

Regardless, it was still a great tragedy that a man died so young, and many godly people wept when Stephen died. How cruel that God would allow such a young man to die this way? Right?!

Why does he allow torment for some, and triumph for others? No one can say this side of heaven. That's in the Lords hands.

The Bible tells the story of the wicked King Herod, who arrested and executed the apostle James. This was James, the brother of John, who was a close personal friend of Jesus when He walked this earth. Just like that, he was gone. Seeing that this pleased the religious leaders who were not fond of the growing Christian Church, Herod went and arrested Simon Peter, their leader. It looked like the end for the great fisherman, but the believers prayed and God delivered Peter from his prison and he lived to preach another day.

Why did James die, and Peter go free? It's hard to say. Life just doesn't make sense a great deal of the time. But God has His purposes that often remain a mystery to us. We are called simply to trust and obey.

So what should we make of all of this? Seize the moment! Carpe diem! Don’t wait to tell someone you love them. Don’t wait to share the gospel with someone. Don’t put off till tomorrow what you are called to today because you really don’t know what the future holds. All that we can do is trust and be diligent in what God has asked us to do. Trust God and obey His word. He’s got everything under control, whether we fully understand it or not.