Untimely Death

Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath. The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. (Psalm 58: 7 – 10)

I want us to look at death, a topic I know many are scared of talking about or even considering.

Many fear that talking about death is calling on death to make an appearance. I know that a number of people who sang about death died not long after. Death is a scary topic.

But God has challenged me to look at this topic. We must look at it if we will maximize on our lives here.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)

Remember Solomon saying that the day of death is better than the day of birth? That it is better to attend a funeral than a party?

But I want us to look at untimely death. I want us to look at reasons people may die before their time by looking at the scriptures.

There are two causes of untimely death, God and people.

Let us start with God causing untimely death

Saul and his sons died because of his disobedience. Eli’s sons died for rebellion.

David and Bathsheba’s son died because he had done his assignment. God brought him to convict David of his sin and died because his assignment was complete.

And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. (1Kings 14:13)

Jeroboam’s son died to save him from the judgment that was due Jeroboam’s lineage because his heart was right with God.

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. (Psalm 116:15)

Herod died because people idolized him. And Ananias and his wife died because they abused grace.

In short, God causes death (kills) to judge, to remove someone from spiritual danger or because their assignment is complete. I have not mentioned those deaths that are for God’s glory as Lazarus, the Sarepath widow’s son and Shunnamite’s son where the death was not total but an opportunity for God to show off.

God kills to fulfill His purpose as well as get glory from His creation.

Why does man kill?

Plainly speaking man kills to equate himself with God. Man kills as a form of self-worship.

You see, God is the only one who owns man as He created him.

And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. (Genesis 9: 5, 6)

When a girl aborts, she puts herself in the place of God because of her sin (not carelessness). She expressed her independence from God by openly doing what God forbids (though she was hidden from public). Then the fruit of her sin was produced (conception). But she is not willing to harvest it (raise the bastard as the partner was pursuing the same ends). That is why she (many times with the consent of her partner in sin) takes the place of God and terminates the existence of another human life.

They thus, in covering up one sin (fornication), commit a worse one (murder). And many times they will do it so that they are not excluded from serving God and being respectable members of society.

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, (2Timothy 3: 1, 2)

Even the devil knows that abortion is evil. That is why he has invested so much in promoting all those services under one guise or the other. From planning nonexistent families to promoting the health of the girl child, you will never fail to find institutions that are fully funded from many sources just to kill the unborn.

And like my teacher of long ago used to quip, a girl kills (with the support of all these partners) shouting about her rights while the person inside her is crying for their right to be born. We are therefore tearing a person (though we call him fetus probably to feel less guilty) to pieces because we have closed our ears to their cry, especially now that we can literally see and probably hear that little one crying. Incidentally, girls going to those abortion killing fields abort that mission if they get to see a scan of that fetus as they have their blinders removed when they see the living person instead of the mass of mess they were told it was. Unlike God who kills because of His love and justice, we kill for pure selfishness.

If that is not self-worship, tell me what is.

Recently, scores died when a hawkers’ market burned down in the middle of the night. Interestingly, there are fires in that market every so often, but this is the first time they have involved the loss of life.

Conspiracy theorists have always had stories about the fires, some that may be backed by something more than fancy.

Some people have loans but have issues with their repayments. Sometimes they just do not want to repay the loans. They then insure their wares and raze them to be forgiven their loans. Others are the allotted ‘landlords’ who want to raise the rents of their stalls without going through the long and impossible legal route as their allotment and rates they pay cannot support their demand even for the ‘low’ rents they collect. They therefore raze the market, put up other stalls and, because there are always people looking for stalls, let them out at much higher rents. Case closed. And nobody thinks of the diligent trader who is not only unaware of the schemes but also does not have the overflowing resources to restock, let alone pay higher rents.

In pursuit of that loan waiver or higher rents, someone has deprived a family of their livelihood, and lately, families of their members.

You want to determine who should live or die and who should prosper or be impoverished. The deaths are a small price to pay for that ambition, a little collateral damage.

Again if that is not self-worship, tell me what is.

Let me explain why I am calling such self-worship.

David sins, gravely, leaving casualties along the way. Then God confronts him so that he is able to see the error of his ways. How does he repent?

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. (Psalm 51:4)

Adultery, attempted cover up and murder were sins against God, and only God.

You see, only God can define sin. Anybody else will have one bias or the other and so is unable to really see black and white on the issues of sin.

Suppose someone you love or feed from does the exact same crime as someone you hate or detest. How would you pass judgment if both cases were brought to your desk as a judge?

Chances are that you will examine your friend’s case with a lot more leniency than the other.

That is why you will find the reporting of the same story coming out in as different ways as there were media houses covering it. And it is the same reason people choose the media house to follow as they will want the media house that goes along with their biases. That is the media house they will call balanced or neutral because they do not want to face their own biases.

With that settled, let us go back to killing.

Killing is always guided by self-interest. And self-interest is self-worship as someone becomes the centre of the universe because their cravings become the definer of everything else.

Look at this person who grabs land, impoverishing a community. He kills them indirectly due to his greed. He may think he has done nothing wrong because he has all the legal documents. His self-worship is therefore backed by law.

Take the parent who for the love of the bottle is unable to give their children a life, or the spouse who for the love of the fling destroys their marriage messing children’s futures. It is interesting you will find some of them as faithful members of churches, even very ‘spiritual’ ones. I remember a worship team being led by a harlot, a worshipper by day and a harlot by night. And she had children.

Of course we have the person who kills because they have been ‘justifiably’ offended. An unfaithful spouse, an unreasonable boss, an oppressing parent, a thieving neighbor make someone offended enough to kill. But do you realize it speaks the same language; self-interest and therefore is self-worship?

Self-worship is destructive all around. And it attracts God’s wrath. Incidentally, it also brings about untimely death on the worshipper. Of course there is enough frustration. Remember a recent post where the Bible talks about God filling someone’s mouth with gravel? That is what happens to the person who for love of self-fulfillment ends up prostrating the entire universe in the worship of his cravings.

He gets everything he wants, does everything he wants, goes everywhere he wishes, eats everything he craves, sins however he wants. He has no restraints.

And it is especially so if he has made or inherited more money than he may ever need. Then the money opens all the doors this world may have.

Even the law is not an obstacle as he can break any legal restraint with that money and not feel the pinch. His self-worship knows no bounds.

Sadly, for them, that money does not move God in the least as His wheel of justice does not depend on money, or any created thing, to turn.

So they will discover too late that they must reap the fruit of their self-worship. And it is not an exciting prospect to be on the wrong side of God.

How do you justify your self-worship?