Take it to Heart

Last Saturday, one of our church members, Randall Payne, was shot in a hunting accident and he did not survive. Randy loved the Lord and is now worshipping Him 24/7. Actually, Randy is no longer experiencing 24/7. He is now in that eternal state of worshipping His Creator. Some would say that scripture says, "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." It is true for the believer that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, but that's not what the scriptures say. 2 Corinthians 5:8 says, "we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord." Do you see the difference? Not only is the principle of being in the Lord's presence instantly true, it is preferred. Randy is where he prefers to be.
So, what do we do now? First we must attend the funeral, the house of mourning. Read Ecclesiastes 7:2 "It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living take it to heart." (emphasis mine) The Lord says a funeral is better time spent than a party. Why? Because we will all, one day, be the guest of honor at a funeral. We will all, one day, be the one to be mourned. Attending a funeral brings this fact to the front of the mind. One considers his life and his relationship with the Lord or whether there is a Lord. A funeral forces us to step back from the temporary and focus, if only for an hour, on the eternal.
Why is this important? Because we do not know when our eternity will begin. Randy was 42 years old. He was doing something he loved to do, hunt. He had all intentions of returning home to his wife and seven children.
And then...the accident. Or was it an accident? Let us look a little further down in Ecclesiastes to 7:13-14, "Consider the work of God, For who is able to straighten what He has bent? In the day of prosperity be happy, But in the day of adversity consider - God has made the one as well as the other so that man will not discover anything that will be after him."
God makes our good days. And God, yes God, makes our bad days. Yes, God makes our bad days. A wise man once said, "God does not make accidents, He makes appointments." How true. Read the last part of the last passage again. "So that man will not discover anything that will be after him."
Inside of the purpose of God's own glory, God created us for a relationship with Himself. That relationship is based on faith, trust, and obedience. If we knew events that were to come and were able to prepare for them, what need would we have for faith, trust and obedience? We are totally, one hundred percent dependent on the Lord for every breath and every need. And that is how He intended it to be. And so as our appointments unfold, let us run to Him, our rock and our refuge. He is the all sovereign, all powerful, omniscient, merciful, gracious, loving, ruler of the universe. Where else will we find our every need? He is in control of all things and all things are in His control.
This grievous event took us by surprise, but it was no accident. Believer, rest assured God does not make accidents. He filled His appointment book before the foundation of the world. And every name has its own time.
Randy was prepared for his appointment. Are you?