Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together.
– 1 Samuel 31:6
What a verse! And in a sense, a very depressing verse. To see Saul, who had so much potential and who God granted so much grace. To end his life in such disgrace. Having lived and led God’s people with pride and ultimately in disobedience to God. And now, in 1 Samuel 31, he dies.
1 Samuel 31:6 pictures the stark reality of life’s brevity and our need for wisdom.
And I read this verse and I think about two particular funerals that I’ve been to recently, one for my mentor and spiritual father in ministry in so many ways, Jim Shaddix, and then more recently my uncle, Uncle John, and both of them died in a way that is totally different than what we read about here with Saul in 1 Samuel 31.
Both of these men died faithfully following Jesus. And while there is without question grief in their death, there is also joy and fulfillment and contentment. I saw both of these men in the days before they went to be with the Lord and they were totally trusting in Jesus, and they were surrounded by people who were trusting in Jesus, family and friends as a result of their lives.
And I have thought a lot about Ecclesiastes and how Ecclesiastes really points us to the brevity of life and almost beckons us to fast-forward to the day when each of us are going to die. So just hang with me. This may feel depressing for a moment, but I think this is so important, and Scripture attests to this. It is good for us to think about the number of our days. Psalm 90 makes this very clear that it’s wise to realize we only have a short number of days here in this world and none of us is guaranteed tomorrow.
1 Samuel 31:6 teaches us to live today with eternity in mind.
So jump to the end of your life for a moment. And even if you’re a child or a teenager, student, I know this seems like a stretch, but you’re not guaranteed tomorrow either. So jump to wherever your coffin is for a moment and just think for a moment, what do I want to be true of me on that day? And then back up and live today so that will be true of you on that day. Live for what is going to matter most on that day, and not just on that day for you, but in the days beyond for the people around you and the days beyond for you in another world. This is a wise way to live.
And so, let’s pray. God, help us to live today with that day in mind, with the day of our death in mind, to live for what is going to matter most on that day, to love people around us today in view of that day, to live today for what’s going to matter most on that day and beyond for those whose lives we’ve influenced and for our lives in a whole nother world.
This verse encourages us to make our lives count for what matters most.
Oh God, please deliver us today from the trivial and the temporary, and from living for what doesn’t matter. On that day and forever, help us to live today for what is going to matter forever. God, help us to live today like we could meet you at any moment. Help us to live faithfully with you, to seek you with all our heart, to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love others as ourselves, to follow you, Jesus, and to make you known right where we live and around the world in whatever way you call us to.
God, help us to live for what will matter forever. And oh God, we pray this in light of the fact that there are people around us today who need Jesus. So we pray you’d help us to be urgent and bold in sharing the gospel today and in spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Prayer for the Shuwa Arab People
God, for the Shuwa Arab people of Chad and Nigeria and Cameroon, over 4 million of them who are not guaranteed tomorrow either, and they’ve never heard the good news of your love for them, in Jesus, God we pray, help us to share and spread the gospel to them with urgency, to use our lives and our resources at your church to get the gospel to all the peoples of the world with urgency, knowing they’re not guaranteed tomorrow either.
God, help us to live today in light of the urgency of eternity and the reality that unless you return, Lord Jesus, death is coming for us at any point, and we pray that you would help us to live for what will matter most on that day. We pray all this according to your Word in 1 Samuel 31:6, in Jesus’ name, in the name of the one who has conquered death so that we can actually look forward to that day because we know that to live is Christ and to die is gain. We pray all this in his name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
