The Province Of God

“1 The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart; And devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from evil,
2 He enters into peace; They rest in their beds, Each one who walked in his upright way.”
Isaiah 57:1-2
I don’t ever want to twist Scripture to say something it doesn’t, but I think that there is a passing truth here worth mentioning. In this chapter of Isaiah God is rebuking the leaders of Israel who did not honor Him, but were evil, living lives of idolatry.
The verses here were an indictment against those leaders, who had no compassion for those who were perishing under their administration. ‘No man takes it to heart’-rather than being good stewards, or shepherds, they were living carnal evil lives, uncaring as to the welfare of their people.
But there is something special, something more in this passage.
“For the righteous man is taken away from evil,
2 He enters into peace; They rest in their beds, Each one who walked in his upright way.”
We live in a world of trouble. When God wills it, he will ‘shorten the days’ of the righteous to rescue them from evil. What is that evil? Burden? How much burden is too much?
We can’t answer-it is all the province of God to decide how much suffering one of His children will endure on this side of death.
“He enters into peace”
Recently a young Christian man committed suicide. His troubled life ended, and he entered into peace.
There are churches which teach that suicide is unpardonable sin, one which would possibly exclude some one from Heaven. They are wrong about a lot of things, including this issue. How we die is never as important as where we go after death. God had decided that that young man had had enough. He brought him home.
As Christians we look to God for our providence. If we are truly His to do with as He wills, we are obedient unto death and beyond. I don’t fear.
May God put in your heart a desire for Him and His righteousness.