The Plan of God

“I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:  Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou remembers no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.” Psalm 88:4-6

Are we free, among the dead, yet? Job wished for it.

 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?” Job 3:11
“For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,”  Job 3:13

Philosophers, get out the Bible and philosophize! Forget about the meaning of life. To die is the meaning of life. Duh!

Jesus knew this, Luke 9:51 teaches, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, He set his face to go to Jerusalem.” He would be crucified there.

Ecclesiastes 3:19  repeats it, “For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other;”

The last words of Men at death are telling:

“Richard Baxter of Kidderminster, …preached as a dying man to dying Men and women,”

“I am the vilest dunghill  worm that ever went to heaven.”

“I was but a pen in God’s hands, and what praise is due to a pen?”

William Carey, father of modern missions, speaks at his death, “When I am gone speak nothing about Dr. Carey, speak about Dr. Carey’s Savior.”

John Cowper , the infidel, till saved by his brother’s help, and in the pain of dying, “brother I am as happy as a king.”

Another great man of God, John Warburton, “Hallelujah.”

William Gadsby, “I shall soon be with Him, victory, victory, victory! Then raising his hands, “forever.”

Elizabeth Browning, who penned the words, “we want the touch of Christ’s hands upon our literature,”. Exclaimed as she died, “it is beautiful.”

John Kent a songwriter 1766-1843, wrote “O Blessed God, how kind.”

“a monument of grace, a sinner saved by blood, the streams of love I trace, up to the fountain, God. And in His sovereign counsels see, eternal thoughts of love to me.”

At his death Kent exclaimed, “I rejoice in hope, I am Accepted — accepted.”

Others: Charles Churchill, “what a fool I have been.” John Keats, “I feel the daisies growing over me.”

Blaise Pascal speaks of life in general:

“That something so obvious as the vanity of the world should be so little recognized that people find it odd and surprising to be told that it is foolish to seek greatness, that is most remarkable.

The pain of it , we must also speak,

Joni Earickson Tada quotes Job, “my spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me… My days are passed, my plans are shattered. and so are the desires of my heart.” Job 17:1,11

Friends, we may not see it but, the whole of a man or woman holds the troublesome demise. “The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint.” “From the soles of the feet to the head… No soundness in us.”

We are dying, we’re dying, dying to live.

“If thine eye be single, the whole body will be full of light.” Matthew 6:22 A single eye is uncomplicated, it has no hidden agenda, it does not step out from God’s presence as God works the Potters wheel. The forming is sometimes sharp, or dull pain, or abrasive, or shattering. Sometimes debilitating, sometimes wounding. Sometimes aching, on the verge of panic, mentally crippling, emotionally scarring.

In the same day we can love and hate, bless and curse, cry and laugh, but the secret is to just,

Die

The only joy on earth lies in that simple word. Have fun. Love ya

Check out my “photos” at the top of the page. Thanks