Bible Reading: Isaiah 57
Key Verse: Verse 1 - The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.”
Key Words: the righteous is taken away from the evil to come
Death is never timely, yet still it is never untimely to God. Death is never easy to accept. One of my favorite verses regarding death is Isaiah 57:1 which tells us that death is God’s way of taking the righteous away from the evil which lies ahead.
Dr. Donald Barnhouse was one of America’s great preachers. He lost his first wife to cancer when she was in her thirties. This left him with three children under the age of twelve. He chose to preach the funeral for his wife but wondered what he would say. His thoughts came together on his way to her funeral. A large truck passed them on the road and cast a shadow over their car. He turned to his oldest daughter and asked, “Tell me, sweetheart, would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow?” The broken little girl looked curiously at her father and said, “By the shadow, I guess. It can’t hurt you.” The wise minister quietly told his three children, “Your mother has not been overrun by death, but by the shadow of death. That is nothing to fear.” Although death usually feels like a truck running over your heart, the death of a believer can bring nothing more than a painful shadow. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou are with me” (Psalm 23:4).
When we sing the chorus, “Isn’t He Wonderful,” I always end the chorus by saying, “He is, you know.” No matter what you have been through, or are now going the through, God is indeed still wonderful.
Dr. Mike Rouse
What to do:
✞ Keep looking up for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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