by Don Ruhl

Read the Bible in a Year This morning read First Kings 19 and 20

Praying to Die

When you are young and have decades of living before you, or when life is great at any age, the idea of praying to die seems strange. Yet, it is something that older people or people in great suffering often do. Many have asked me to pray for their deaths. Elijah the prophet prayed to die.

4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, "It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!" (1 Kin. 19:4).

As far as Elijah was concerned, he had no more reason to live. He had done all that he could. He lived life to the fullest. Therefore, he believed there was no reason to live anymore, after all, the queen of the country had promised to kill him within 24 hours. Rather than suffer horribly at her hands, he desired to die at the hands of the merciful God.

However, Elijah was not Lord of his life, but the God of heaven was. He still had plans for Elijah, although the prophet could not see those plans at the present. The fact that he prayed to God about this matter rather than taking his own life or asking someone else to take it for him, shows that he understood who is in charge of all things, who knows all things, and to whom we must give an account.

Please remember that when your life seems hopeless, there is a God in heaven who is looking over you and we should submit to Him all the days of our lives, even if those latter days are full of suffering.

Don Ruhl Church of Christ 220 NE Savage Street Grants Pass, Oregon 97526-1310 541-476-3100