We are so afraid of death. Some of us are afraid of cancer, car accidents, a heart attack, plane crashes, choking to death, suffocation, or some other fatal disease or illness. Yes, there are many many ways to die, too many to count. We could contemplate them all day long. Some of us are comforted by "odds." What I mean by that is we might comfort ourselves by saying, "Well, that won't happen to me. Plane crashes are so rare" or, "I'm in perfect health. The doctor says my heart sounds and looks great," or, "Cancer doesn't run in my family. Everyone in my family has lived to be in their 90s." Then there are others of us who are waiting, expecting something horrible around every corner. We're just waiting for that freak accident to take us, or we see a doctor regularly (I'm not talking just regular appropriate checkups) just hoping to catch a problem before it catches us, or maybe we just think about dying everyday, wondering when it is coming.
There is no true comfort in "odds." We don't know if we are going to be in the minority or the majority. There is no way of knowing if we are the person who is going to live to be 100 or the person who is hit by a car while crossing the street. Please understand. I am not saying this for the sake of being morbid. My point is that no one knows, no matter how young or old, healthy or sick, when our last day is.
Today is the first day that I think I really get this concept. There is nothing that I or even the greatest physician in the world can do to preserve my own life. I can exercise and try to eat right, and those things are great. We should take care of and honor our bodies as God has commanded us to (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), but nothing we do can save us. I want to merge these two concepts together: God is always always good to His children, no matter what our circumstances are, and God is the one who gives us life and chooses when it is time to take it away.
Why then should I be afraid of death? If God is good all the time, then isn't He also good to me in my death? None of us can run away from dying. In fact our birth and death has been predetermined. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you" (Jeremiah 1:5). So if my time to die is today, tomorrow or 50 years from now it is good. Whenever it is, it will be the perfect time because God is always good.
"And again,
“I will put my trust in him.”
And again,
“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." (Hebrews 2:13-18)
