To Die Well

Day two hundred fifty-three

Heavenly Father thank you for all the prayers you have answered and not answered.  Forgive me for my weaknesses and help me to turn them into strengths.  Please let the Spirit be with me today, to guide me and to comfort me when needed.  Let me have the wisdom to listen and the courage to follow what He says. I love you.  Amen

1 Samuel 31 Saul and his Sons Die

There is an old legend that tells of a merchant in Baghdad who one day sent his servant to the market. Before very long the servant came back, white and trembling, and in great agitation said to his master: "Down in the market place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd, and when I turned around I saw that it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Master, please lend me your horse, for I must hasten away to avoid her. I will ride to Samarra and there I will hide, and Death will not find me."

The merchant lent him his horse and the servant galloped away in great haste.

Later the merchant went down to the market place and saw Death standing in the crowd. He went over to her and asked, "Why did you frighten my servant this morning? Why did you make a threatening gesture?"

"That was not a threatening gesture," Death said. "It was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra."

Each of us has an appointment in Samarra. We may not like to talk about it; and we may choose to live our lives like it will not happen, but death is inevitable.  However, we can control whether we die badly or die well.

In this chapter is recorded the awful, tragic death of King Saul and his three sons.  We have watched Saul go from a good, godly man in the beginning of his reign; to a man who has rejected God's plan for his life, who has refused to walk with the Lord, and has brought about his own rejection by God.  Saul has been on a downward spiral and it is about to come to a terrible end.

Tragedy
As I have said many times, when I read the scriptures I try to picture in my mind what it would be like to be in that moment.  It is like a movie in my head.  The scene on the battlefield that day must have been devastating for Saul.  The armies of Israel are put to shame before their enemies and badly defeated.  The bodies of the wounded and the dead litter the landscape.  King Saul, the powerful, handsome king is struck by the arrows of his enemies.  Near the king lie the dead bodies of his three sons.  He knows that he cannot escape and that he cannot live.  Saul seeks the help of his armor-bearer in ending his life; the man will not help the king so Saul ends his own life by falling on his own sword.  A reign that had begun so well ends in suicide after a tragic military defeat.  What a tragedy!

The biggest tragedy is that it didn't have to end this way.  Saul’s life did not start out like it finished.  Forty years earlier Saul had been a handsome young man.  He had been humble, brave and obedient when he was first inaugurated as king.  But, little by little he had allowed compromise into his life and he had descended into weakness and wickedness.  When Saul died, he was only a short distance from Ramah where he had been crowned king forty years earlier. Spiritually, however, he might as well have been on another planet.

Sadly, we see the same thing happening to people all around us. God desires to save and bless His people.  Men, however, refuse to go God’s way and they live lives of defeat and ultimately they die tragic deaths.  I have seen this in my own family.  It is painful to watch because it doesn't have to be that way.  God has a better plan. 

Reality
When a life has been lived like the Saul's; death is always a tragedy. When there is no repentance, but only the anguish of years of bad choices, death is a terrible and tragic event.  We have all had people in our lives that have lived such lives and have died such deaths.  When they pass, we shake our heads and think to ourselves, "What a wasted life!"  It is never pleasant when death comes for one who has not properly prepared for it.  Even God doesn't desire the death of a sinner (Eze 33:11).

Die Well
While the death of a sinner is tragic, when a saint of God has lived the right kind of life and death comes; it is not a tragedy, it is a victory!  How is death a victory?  This is what I found in the scriptures:

Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”

Rev. 14:13, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”

Phil. 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

2 Timothy 4:6-8, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

What an awesome way to look at death.  The righteous merely go home to be with the Lord and live in His presence. It is not a fearful event, but one of peace.

This subject got me thinking about how I want to die.  Saul left a tragic testimony in his death, he died like a fool, he died badly.  I would like to die well.  I want to leave here as a faithful servant of the Lord.  I want to go out doing good in the world, leaving behind an unmistakable life of love for my Savior and my Father in Heaven.  I want to die the way the Lord intended, in victory!