1 SAMUEL 25:1 – “Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah.”
THEME OF THE DAY: AND HE DIED. Today’s scripture starts out matter-of-factly – Now Samuel died. Nothing earth shattering. No surprise. The great man of God aged, and died just like every other human being with the exception of Enoch.
“When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:21-24).
Speaking of Genesis 5, the chapter consists of 32 verses. Eight times in describing various people, the concluding verse on each of their lives read “and he died.” And that could be written of every single human being throughout history – and he or she died. By the way, it also applies to you and me. I know that we know we are going to die unless Jesus returns, but do we really know it? Know it in the sense it changes our lives? The writer to the Hebrews states this about the certainty of death . . .
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
But notice what the author does not say – the day of our appointment with death. It might be tomorrow, maybe ten years from now, but then again, it could be in the next hour. And this is an appointment not like the ones we make in this world. It cannot be cancelled, missed, or rescheduled. This reality begs the question, “Does the certainty of my death but the uncertainty of when make a daily difference in my life?”
We may know if we are being shaped in our daily lives by the truth of our death and certain judgment before the Lord Jesus by how we answer this question . . . “If we knew that tomorrow at noon we will die and face Jesus, would we change any of our plans, adjust our priorities, or have spiritual conversations with people we know we need to have?”
Should we need to make radical changes to our schedules, desires, and plans, perhaps we need to do a little spiritual check-up. Now this isn’t to beat us up. Every one of us would likely need to do a little rearranging of our schedules if we knew tomorrow would be our day of facing the Lord. But remember, when we see Jesus, we will not receive a look of condemnation or anger. Of course, we shall all stand before the judgment seat of the Lord and give a detailed account of our lives (2 Corinthians 5:10), but it will not be an accounting for our sins. The Judge is also our Savior. He paid the debt of our sins, praise His Name!
As we live life for the Lord, thinking about death is not morbid. It is healthy. It causes us to prioritize life around Him and spiritual matters. On the other side, we should not “soften” death. The Bible calls it the last enemy –“ the last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26). It isn’t “passing away”, “going to a better place” or any other statements which attempt to lessen the pain of death. It is an enemy, but it is a defeated enemy! Jesus rose from the dead, and because He did, we may still die once. The second death cannot touch us. Rejoice in this liberating truth.
PRAYER: Father, thank You for conquering the last enemy – death – and giving me eternal life in Your Son.
REFLECTION: Unless Jesus returns, we are going to die. No one is exempt. Be prepared for this great certainty.