My dear readers,

Long Days or Short Years?

Proverbs 10:27: "The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened."

"The good die young" is an oft spoken statement when someone whom we think is a “good person” dies. This saying seems to comfort the bereaved loved ones. However, is it true that the good die young? God has revealed to us in Proverbs 10:27 that the one who fears the LORD will have his days prolonged! The word "prolong" is literally "to add." The LORD says that He will add days to the ones who fear the LORD!

The ones who fear the LORD are born-again believers. This fear is the beginning that leads to salvation. Proverbs 1:7: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." And Proverbs 9:10: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." The paraphrase of

Proverbs 10:27a is that the LORD will add days to the believer's life! Why did the LORD use days instead of weeks or months, or years?

All believers ought to live very consciously for the LORD one day at a time. One-day-at-a-time living has been God's teaching since He brought Israel out of Egypt. He deliberately provided His 2 million plus people with the manna, i.e. food from heaven, daily except on the Sabbath Day. God told His people to collect enough for their daily meals. There would be a fresh supply the next day. If they kept the extra manna it would stink. Those who did not obey and kept extra experienced the truthfulness of God's warning. The exception to the daily collection was to keep a double portion on the 6^th day for the Sabbath Day as well. The extra food collected would not stink since God would not rain down the manna from heaven on the Sabbath Day. Israel needed to learn to keep the Sabbath Day holy as they exercised faith and trust in the LORD's daily provision. This lesson lasted forty years in the wilderness.

Every believer must learn the significance of the LORD's daily presence in his life. The moment he wakes up in the morning, it is the LORD adding a day to his life. It is not an accidental added day for him to do whatever he likes. It is also not a day added because he is healthy and as if it is his right to wake up every morning because he is young. This manner of thinking causes God's children to do what is right in their own eyes. They satisfy their hearts' desires and ambitions at the expense of doing God's will. They serve God as if they are doing God a favour. They come to church for worship as a matter of fact and ritual. However, the one who lives one day at a time is consciously aware that God has added a day to his life. He prays without ceasing. He seeks God's will. He seeks to please God and, with God's help, tries to fulfil God's will in his life. He shares Christ wherever he goes as he knows that the LORD has sent him. Bearing a holy testimony for Christ is why God added a new day to his life.

The LORD is pleased to add days to the life of the one who fears Him. The one who feared Him when he accepted Christ will continue to fear Him in his life of witness on earth. He fulfils God's will. God's people need him. Sinners appreciate him when they come to know Christ as Lord and Saviour through his holy witness. He helps fellow believers grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ through his teaching and preaching of God's Word. God uses him to lift believers' spirits. Such a helpful God-honouring child of God will indeed have many days added to his holy life to the glory of God.

In contrast, for the professing believer who is wicked in God’s eyes, God shortens his years, like a wicked person living within Israel and like a wicked person within the church. The name of Christ is at stake!

If he does not repent of his sins, he will continue to shame the Name of Christ and will hurt everyone he meets as a professing believer. Sinners will despise and reject Christ as their Lord and Saviour because of him. His hypocrisy will stumble believers. His wickedness will destroy relationships. He will murmur. He will find fault with others who serve. His life is one of discouragement and destruction to the cause of Christ.

If he becomes a leader in the church, the hurt he brings will devastate many lives. Wicked pastors and elders have destroyed many churches. These evil leaders have ruined the causes of Christ with their diabolical persecutions and seductions. If the LORD had not shortened their lives by years, they would have done more damage to God's people and work.

All the evil we see today in the world and in churches could have been much worse if the LORD had not shortened the years of evil despots throughout the ages. These evil despots sitting in high religious offices are permitted to be there to do their evil by the LORD for His glory. Once they have done the evil that the sovereign God permits, their lives will end. Psalm 76:10: "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain."

"Years" describes the shortening of sinful lives to help believers remain calm in the face of great evil and injustice in the world, especially within Christendom. The LORD is in absolute control. The LORD takes away many years of these evil men and women. The damage they do, such as the countries they conquer and the lives they take, is according to God's sovereign plan for all. There are no accidents.

Conclusion – We live in a world that comprises the ones who fear the LORD (i.e. believers) and wicked ones. The LORD adds days to the former. They are aware of this daily addition. They spend their days wisely for His glory and the blessing of others. They know that it is not a matter of how long they live but how they live for Christ. In contrast, the latter have their years shortened by the LORD. The LORD restrains their evil ways. All the harm and hurt they do in their life have been allowed for God's purpose and glory. In light of this truth, every believer must live circumspectly to the glory of God. He must serve faithfully and spend his days wisely. He has no worries to speak of, for he knows that his heavenly Father, the God Most High, controls all things and people throughout the ages. All the chaos he sees in the world is only apparent. The invisible hand of God sovereignly pervades every nation. Everything occurs in the exact order that will ultimately bring glory to God and blessing to God's children. God's people have nothing to fear. Amen.