“The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come” (Isaiah 57:11).

How tragic it seems when promising young Christian men or women are cut off “before their time.” Even more painful is the sudden death of a child, before there was ever the opportunity for him or her to grow up at all. Yet the Christian believer can be confident that such events do not occur before God’s time, for He “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11). We know that God loves us, because He sent His own beloved Son to die for us. Therefore, “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

It may well be that God has allowed the righteous to perish and the merciful to be taken away, in order to spare them from “the evil to come,” either increasing tribulation in the world, or perhaps the further growth of incipient sin in their own lives. It may be that their “untimely” departure “to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23) will be used of God to lead others to Christ and salvation. It also should give their loved ones greater incentive to learn more of God’s word and its gracious promises, as well as to forsake sin in their lives. In those situations where death seems to have been hastened because of zeal for the Lord, their loved ones can rejoice that the martyr’s “crown of life” (Revelation 2:10) is awaiting them.

Other reasons may exist which we cannot understand now, “for who hath known the mind of the Lord?” (Romans 11:34). But we do know that even a sparrow “shall not fall on the ground without your Father” (Matthew 10:29). We may not fully understand now, but we can rest in the fact that He does all things well. HMM