God has Numbered Our Days

I had a very interesting conversation today, Monday, January 4, 2021 with a self-appointed Bishop. On Facebook he had posted that if Pastor's would carry guns they could protect their flock. He was basing this on the fact that there was a Pastor killed on Sunday, January 3rd. Now according to this self-appointed bishop, if the pastor had been carrying a gun, he wouldn't have been killed. My exception to this is that he was carrying a gun and it was taken away from him. So the bishop stated that "pastor" should have known martial arts and that would have stopped the gunman, then bragged about how many years he's been a black belt. In other words, this pastor's death was the pastor's fault. 

However, I don't believe it was the fault of the pastor. In fact, I tend to believe that God has the number of each person in the world. This pastor at no time was going to be living past yesterday; the time of his life had come. Even if he had known martial arts, he would still died. When God has your number, nothing will save you from death. You may not die in such a violent way, but you may pass on by other means. 

So to sit there and say that pastor's don't listen to you, is quite frankly asinine. No where does God tell you that you have authority to say what would save a person's life. If the pastor had been sitting at home eating a chicken leg and died because he got chocked on a bone, would you be sitting there saying "I have been telling ministers for years, not to eat chicken!" 

You see no matter what way we go, God has our days numbered. In fact Job 14:5-6 says Since man’s days are determined and the number of his months depends on You, and since You have set limits he cannot pass, look away from him and let him rest so that he can enjoy his day like a hired hand.(HCSB) James 4:14 states Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes (ESV).

So while we don't have the assurance of tomorrow, what we can have the assurance of is our salvation and faith in Christ. The only means of justification consistent with grace is the faith that brings nothing to the table, not even faith-motivated good deeds. Justifying faith says: “Lord, all I deserve is your judgment. Even with your help, I cannot do enough good to meet your perfect standard. All that avails for me is the righteousness of Christ. Please, clothe me with it” (see Rom. 4:1–16a). Such faith is the gift of God to His people: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8–9)

John Newton, the lyricist of that beautiful hymn "Amazing Grace" said of assurance, In mercy [God] has frequently stirred up my nest, shaken me in it, and forced me to fly to him, when I should otherwise have dropped into sleep and [false] security. (221)

As I posted on Facebook today, "No amount of martial arts, medication, medical attention will save you, when your time has come. For God has numbered our days, and when that time is up, then God will call us home, as long as we have our faith and salvation through Jesus Christ.