He will be our guide, even unto death.

In the last 18 months I received a lot of guidance from doctors and other medical experts and even friends and loved ones. However, when I came across an article from Octavius Winslow on guidance (1808 - 1878) I found he summed it up in a beautiful way.

Life has been much on my mind lately. For one the “shortness of it” as the Bible calls it “only a hand breath” or “only a vapour that comes and disappears”. Take a look at well known people in the Bible and that no matter how long they lived, it all ends the same way.

Genesis 5:5   Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died
Genesis 5:8   Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.
Genesis 5:11 Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.
Genesis 5:14 Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died
Genesis 5:17 Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.
Genesis 5:20 Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.
Genesis 5:27 Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.
Genesis 5:31 Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.
Genesis 9:29 All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

Sometime ago I had a conversation with a highly aged man named Wally. I asked Wally how old he was, he replied, 99 years old and said that he loved the Lord. I asked Wally, what do you hope for the remainder of your life? Oh, he said, I hope to be a hundred years old. If I would ask Wally the same question today he most likely would say, I hope to get 101 years old.

This shows us that we will never have enough years; we always like to have more years. I understand that completely myself, I pray for more years and I think a person does unless life becomes very difficult through pain or suffering. I also believe God can give Grace to die when times comes.

However, the most important is that we can say “For this God is our God forever and ever! He will be our guide even unto death!" Psalm 48:14. If we have received forgiveness from our sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ he will be our guide, even unto death. Death will then take on a different meaning, a hope after death, a hope of Eternal life.
I continue to pray for life but also that God will guide into the future. He knows what is best for me and you. Put your trust in Him and He will be your guide, even unto death.

As for my battle with cancer, I have some difficult days at times when I can hardly eat and feel extremely tired. I can start to feel the cancer in my spine and ribs. There are good days too when we can go away as we did this week to see the ultimate of God’s creation, this time to the summit of Mount Baker. Stunningly beautiful at any time of the year, but especially in the fall just before the snow falls. It is almost unrealistically beautiful, yet real. God is good and I thank and praise Him each day we live.
Thank you for the many cares, emails and messages on this blog and many other ways you show your love and care.
John



Mount Baker, Washinton USA

Following is the writing from Octavius Winslow I mentioned earlier.

"For this God is our God forever and ever! He will be our guide even unto death!" Psalm 48:14
The world passes away. Everything here in this present world is changing.
Life is like a painted dream;
Like the rapid summer stream;
Like the fleeting meteor's ray;
Like the shortest winter's day;
Like the fitful breeze that sighs;
Like the waning flame that dies;
Darting, dazzling on the eye;
Fading in eternity!"

A rope of sand,
a spider's web,
a silken thread,
a passing shadow,
an ebbing wave, are the most fitting and expressive emblems of all things belonging to this present earthly state.
The homes that sheltered us in childhood — we leave.
The land which gave us birth — we leave.
The loved ones who encircled our hearths — pass away.
The friends of early years — depart.
And the world that was so sunny, and life that was so sweet — is all beclouded and embittered — the whole scenery of existence changed into wintry gloom. Such are the saddening, depressing effects of life's vicissitudes.

But in the midst of all, "This God is our God forever and ever!" All beings change — but God. All things change — but heaven. The evolutions of time revolve, the events of earth go onward, but He upon whom all things hang, and by whom all events are shaped and controlled, moves not. "For I am the Lord, I change not."
Our affairs may alter.
Our circumstances may change.
Our relations and friends may depart one by one.
Our souls in a single day pass through many fluctuations of spiritual feeling.
But He who chose us to be His own, and who has kept us to the present moment — is our covenant God and Father forever and ever, and will never throw us off and cast us away.

"For this God is our God forever and ever! He will be our guide even unto death!"