“Why Should You Die Before Your Time?“
Say it a few times. As you repeat the words, gradually bring the volume down until it’s a whisper. That’s how this line from Ecclesiastes 7 haunts me! It’s been echoing in my mind ever since I watched this sermon titled “It’s About Time” and is changing how I do everything.
Do not be excessively righteous [like those given to self-conceit], and do not be overly wise (pretentious)– Why should you bring yourself to ruin? Do not be excessively or willfully wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? Ecclesiastes 7:17 AMP
Simply put, if you’re conceited about how noble and virtuous you are, and flamboyant about how wise you think you are: You will ruin yourself. If you’re willfully evil or unwise and stupid: You will die before your time.
*Take a moment to read Ecclesiastes 7 on your own when you have the chance. It’s a thought-provoking chapter with sobering reflections on wisdom and foolishness.*
The first line is humbling, but the second line has me clutching my pearls. I don’t know many willfully evil people, but I do know some fools! I know you know some fools. You might be a fool. I might be a fool. Come on, we’ve all had our fair share of foolish moments, haven’t we?
If you’re thinking, “Nah, not me, ” just go ahead and read the first line of that verse again! We tend to miss the mark, myself included, and we might miss it often. Okay! So now that we’ve acknowledged that we’ve all been fools at one point or another:
I have two points to make, and then I’ll tell you why this line lives rent free in my head.
Point 1: A God-Ordained Time
“Why should you die before your time?” means that we have a God-ordained time to die, but our unwise and stupid actions can alter His plan and cut our time short.
Think about Genesis, the very first book of the Bible. That raggedy serpent got into Eve’s head, tempting her with his smooth words, and she and Adam ate the apple. My Bible study group and I talked about this a while ago, and we asked, “Was that God’s plan the whole time?” “He’s all-knowing; He had to know Adam and Eve would disobey Him.” “Why was the serpent even there!?” “Why is the Tree of Knowledge even in the garden?” and so on. So many questions! I believe we rested on the thought, “Yes, God had to have known what would happen the whole time.” But as I’ve been reading the wisdom books of the Bible (Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, Job), it has become clear to me that God did not know that they would disobey. Their time in the garden was wrapped early, due to the choice they made. He had a plan for them, just like He has a plan for me and you, and it does not include our early destruction and pain.
*Edit for clarity: I want to be clear with what I mean when I say that God didn’t know that they would disobey. God knows our hearts and our minds and He gives us free will, so at any moment we can choose to come closer or move further away from Him. Our sovereign God knows us much better than we know ourselves, but He still gives us the grace to make our own choices. I believe God knows and properly works the endings to each route we choose to take. What He does in us and through us, the consequences/corrections and blessings we face are based on the decisions we make.*
“For know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
Do you remember that show “1,000 Ways to Die”? So many of those stories were craaazy. You know it was foolishness at play; God wouldn’t do us like that!
He has a plan and it is GOOD. Here’s the thing. Our divine and gracious God, the ultimate ruler, the King of kings and all-powerful Lord of lords, is not oppressive. He gave us autonomy and free will for a reason. So, unfortunately, we can opt into foolishness. Heh.
Point 2: The Ways We Perish
There are two ways to die: we can die physically and spiritually.
We all know how physical death works; no pulse and back to dust we go. Spiritual death is different. I believe we’re all spiritually dead until we find real and true faith in God. I can use my testimony as an example. If you know my story, you know I grew up Christian-ish, but because I didn’t read the Bible I wasn’t overly familiar with His word. I had a misinformed/incomplete perception of Him before truly getting to know Him, and if I’m being honest, I was spiritually dead. Not that I wasn’t a lively, ethical, and striving person, but something was missing. Because I had this incomplete view and some misconceptions about God and Christianity (don’t worry, I’ll talk about them in a future post), I just jumped headfirst into exploring spirituality. And that was honestly really good for me! It began to rouse me from the dead, but it was not the actual defibrillator. It was more of a delicious appetizer to the main entree of following Jesus and living a hotter-than-lukewarm Christian lifestyle. I developed a deeper sense of my inner being, but I wouldn’t say I was fully alive. Let me put it like this: being spiritually dead means being disconnected from God. And it’s not just a concern for those who haven’t connected with God; those who have been connected can experience spiritual death at any time, if we choose to turn away from Him.
THE POINT
Alright, we’re finally getting to the juicy part! But hey, I had to set the stage and give you a bit of context!
The mix of understanding that God has beautiful plans and a destined time for us, that we can experience not only physical but also spiritual death, and the reminder of “Why should you die before your time?” has fueled a stronger sense of purpose over the past couple of months, and is propelling me toward my life’s mission. Don’t ask me what my mission is; I’m still figuring that out. Ha! But I can feel myself moving toward it.
“Why should you die before your time?” truly has me evaluating the small everyday decisions that make up my life. If I’m foolish, I will fail to see God’s plan revealed! It’s the ordinary day to day decisions can lead to spiritual and physical death. This is going to sound dramatic, but hear me out. If I choose to entertain someone who is certain to pull me in a direction that is not toward God or my purpose, I would be a fool, and I will die in one way or the other, before my time! If I say yes to things that are certain to pull me in a direction that does not contribute to my purpose-led walk, it would be a foolish decision, and I will die before my time! So I’m not entertaining that man who traffics in confusion; I’m saying “No, thank you” to going to that event that I feel indifferent about, I’m passing on that extra round of alcohol that might put me over the limit of decent decision making, and so on. And if you think it’s not that deep, let’s recall that devious and crafty line that the serpent used:
But the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not sureIy die.” Genesis 3:4 ESV
You know what happened next. So it might sound like a dramatic way to weigh your actions, but the enemy WANTS us to underestimate the weight of our decisions. He wants us to make foolish and self-serving decisions that throw us off of our God-ordained paths. So, now I want to ask You:
“Why Should You Die Before Your Time?”
I hope it echoes in your thoughts as much as it does mine.
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