LEARNING DAILY

 

Isaiah 57:1-2, The righteous pass away; the godly often die before their time. And no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. For the godly who die will rest in peace. (New living Translation)

 

The pastor in our bus in Israel told us about a person he had worked with in another church who passed away too early in her life. Being a godly, righteous lady, the question of why was asked. He related that later her husband was found to be a pretty unrighteous man and perhaps she was spared the embarrassment of his actions. I wondered at the time why he was sharing this story with us. Later, I shared the above verses with him to consider as an answer to his question of why.

 

Even the prophet Isaiah seemed to cry out over the premature death of the godly who seemed to be taken within a corrupt society. To fully understand this, one probably needs to read the verses preceding chapter 57 where Isaiah is dealing with the corrupt leaders and priests of Israel who did not know the Word of God and were obsessed with idol worship. Even the watchmen were unable to warn the nation of Israel of the approaching dangers they would face because of their idolatry. The godly were dying; they were being spared the judgment of what was to come. I cannot explain why some who were righteous were taken and others who were righteous were not taken! That is a question for God to answer.

 

I share this today with hopes to encourage someone. Perhaps God was preparing my heart to hear of the loss of a friend and a brother in Christ who went to be with Him while we were gone. My friend, Willie Thomas was taken to be with Jesus too soon by my thoughts. Yet, the only answer I have is to trust in the Lord; He must have needed Willie in heaven.

 

When the school Willie taught at closed, I did everything I could to get him to come to First Baptist Academy to teach and coach. The school needed his testimony and his personality. He finally gave in! His smile was contagious. Willie was in my office every day – many days he was there many times. We enjoyed trying to top each other with stories. Yes, they were mainly stories about our coaching days; they were great times, and I am not sure I ever got the upper hand. We also spent a great amount of time discussing Scripture.

 

He went to heaven too soon. We may not understand, but we might find comfort knowing that God had His reason, and we can trust in Him. I will miss Willie; I look forward to eternity where I am going to do my best to have a better story than him. Heaven’s gain is certainly our loss.

 

More on Israel tomorrow.