Who knows when?

Months ago I asked God what it is that I am battling and he had one word for me.  The word came in the middle of the night - not in a dream.  I was awake and struggling.  The word was "death." 

Since that night, I have seen the death of a neighbor, the death of my ram.  Death that seems to surround me in this world all around.  Yet, the death that concerns me most is the death that is even closer to me than that of the world around me that does not touch my heart.  The death that cuts into my heart is the death that I fear the most.

I know God give me power and authority over the things of this earth.  I am not sure where that power and authority starts and stops.  I know I have this power as it has impacted my life many times in very significant ways.  But there seem to be things that are beyond my reach when it comes to my own influences.  I suspect God does have limits on what I get to control but I am not terribly sure that is the case.  

As a result of my incomplete knowledge over the extent of this power I am given I often wield this power with hesitation.  That is a chink in my sword.  A sword with a dull spot is not as effective as a sword that is perfectly sharp across its entire blade.  I think my sword is damaged.  I need to spend time on the sharpening stone as a result.

How long does it take to sharpen my sword?  Will it take too long such that in the meantime, I will experience the death that I fear too quickly?  Will the delay result in a death that I have been given the authority to stop?  Or is life and death a God thing that I do not have authority over?  

Though death is an experience that is universal, it is not out of the control of God.  

Appointed Times

God has set appointed times when people will die. Job said.

The days of humans are determined; you have decreed the number of their months and have set limits they cannot exceed (Job 14:5).

The Apostle Paul proclaimed.

nor is He [God] served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor He made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and He allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live (Acts 17:25,26).

The psalmist wrote.

Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16).

Shorten Or Prolong

The Bible says that God can shorten or prolong a life.

Our God is the God of salvation; and to God the LORD belongs escapes from death (Psalm 68:20).

My times are in Your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors (Psalm 31:15).

Hezekiah

King Hezekiah of Judah was told by God that he was going to die. He prayed that the Lord would let him live longer. God granted his request. The Lord said to the prophet Isaiah.

Go say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: 'I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; and I will add to your days fifteen years' (Isaiah 38:5).

Daniel

The prophet Daniel told the Babylonian King Belshazzar that God holds our very life and breath in His hands.

You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in His hand your life and all your ways (Daniel 5:23).

Summary

Death is an enemy to humanity, but it is not out of God's control. The number of days that we will live on this earth are ordained by God. He has the power to shorten or prolong it.