The end of life fascinates me, even if it troubles me. I believe God has forgiven me because Jesus died on the cross to make that happen. I believe God will welcome me into heaven after I pass from this earth. But I also know that death creates some fear within me. There are mysteries I simply cannot understand while I’m alive, and the unknowns are unsettling. Furthermore, I do know that with each day I live, I’m one day closer to death.

 

Since I tend to struggle with worry and fear, I find comfort in the fact that God knows exactly when my life will end. If I’m ever in a frightening, even life-threatening situation, I try to remember that God already knows when I will breathe my last breath. When my time comes, it comes. I don’t always need to “hold on for dear life” because God knows exactly when I will let go.

 

As the psalmist wrote to his Creator, “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). And as we read in the book of Job, “A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed” (Job 14:5).

 

God knows what I don’t know, and that’s good enough for me. Instead of worrying about what happens when my life ends, I want to focus on the great hope I have after that point, when my life will actually begin. I want each day not to depress me with the truth that death is closer, but to create a yearning within me that longs to hear those words from my Savior: “Welcome home.”

 

Troy Burns