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[Xeno.of.athens]

Length of days is not what makes age honourable, nor number of years the true measure of life; understanding, this is grey hairs, untarnished life, this is ripe old age. Having won God's favour, he has been loved and, as he was living among sinners, has been taken away. He has been carried off so that evil may not warp his understanding or deceitfulness seduce his soul; for the fascination of evil throws good things into the shade, and the whirlwind of desire corrupts a simple heart. Having come to perfection so soon, he has lived long; his soul being pleasing to the Lord, he has hurried away from the wickedness around him. Yet people look on, uncomprehending; and it does not enter their heads that grace and mercy await his chosen ones and that he intervenes on behalf of his holy ones. The upright who dies condemns the godless who survive, and youth quickly perfected condemns the lengthy old age of the wicked. These people see the end of the wise without understanding what the Lord has in store or why he has taken such a one to safety; they look on and sneer, but the Lord will laugh at them. Soon they will be corpses without honour, objects of horror among the dead for ever. For he will shatter them and fling them headlong and dumbfounded. He will shake them from their foundations; they will be utterly laid waste, a prey to grief, and their memory will perish. When the count of their sins has been drawn up, in terror they will come, and their crimes, confronting them, will accuse them.
Wis 4:8-20 NJB

Never be hasty in your judgement.

 

[RandyPNW]

When one of my best friends died, together with his wife and 3 of his children, I read this verse and found some comfort in it.

Isa 57.1 The righteous perish,
and no one takes it to heart;
the devout are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil.
2 Those who walk uprightly
enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death.

My friend had just finished school to work as a youth pastor, and was moving back into the area to begin this job--I helped him move. One of the last things I heard him say was that he had never been happier and content with the way things were.

After his death his Mother helped start or get involved with a local Mothers Against Drunk Drivers chapter. This is when MAD just was getting under way. My friend had been killed late at night by a drunk driver.

God takes the righteous away--sometimes inexplicably, and we seem unable to find rationale in the event. But God has a purpose for everything under heaven. And our job is simply to acknowledge the purpose of God.