MAR 2

Ecclesiastes 8:6-8
Memorise James 4:14
"Neither hath he power in the day of death"

CAN WE PREVENT DEATH?

We realize that no matter what a wicked king may do, God is still the one who controls time and judgment. Just as we saw how a wise man would know how to discern time and judgment, God in His perfect wisdom is the one who orders and arranges every time and every judgment. Man on the other hand, can never know what shall be on the morrow, neither can he control life and death. And therefore to a man who does not know God, this is described as the misery of man. He lives in constant fear and anxiety, and is frustrated by the many things that he cannot control or predict.

No matter how much power and authority is vested to him, that he be a king or a ruler of kings, he is still limited by his mortality, and has no power to keep life, or to prevent death. This ‘war’ between life and death is a daily battle that will never end. Try as they might, no amount of wicked ways can deliver one out of this struggle. Man may plot and scheme and invent all sorts of methods to try to extend their lives, sometimes even at the expense of other lives. Yet we know that such methods will never work, for our lives are in the hand of God, and He alone wields the power to take and to give life.

Thus we realize that all of our lives are in the sovereign hand of God. He alone has the power in the day of death. The implication of this ought then to be of great comfort and assurance to the believer. As long as there is a purpose for our time on earth, we will be allowed to remain alive to fulfil the purpose that God has for us. However the moment that God says that our time is up, and our work on earth is done, then we would not want to remain one second longer here. It is not up to us to try to extend our time here, but simply to trust in God who is the one in control of our life and death. We ought to heed the advice in James 4:1315: "Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that."

Thought: If God is in control of death, does that mean I can be reckless with my life?
Prayer: Lord, help me to treasure each moment I have, for we know that the time that we have is from Thee, and should be used for Thee.