Psalm 39:4-5 — Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

Myra and I have been saddened by what seems like a rash of deaths in friends and contacts.
Somebody that I have known and worked with for many years was diagnosed with cancer a few short weeks ago. On Sunday, he died.
Myra met with good friends of ours last week. The next day she heard that their daughter-in-law’s mother had died when an unsuspected blood clot stopped her heart.
I know you could tell stories just like these. I know some of them will seem much more tragic (of course there are no comparisons — every death is unique in its circumstances and it’s impact).
The tragedy of death is not what ran through my mind though. It’s the unexpectedness. How does that work? We all know that we will die. We know that all those we know and love will die. Why then is it such a jarring shock when death happens?
One reason is that, somehow, we want to be prepared. We have a sense that 70 or 80 years is about right — we find that in Psalm 90, and somehow that fits our “average” experience. But we don’t know — only God knows. Job knew that:

Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day. (Job 14:5-6)

Another reason that sudden death has the effect it does is the seeming arbitrariness. Why does one person die and not another? Why does one person live and not another? Ecclesiastes, the old preacher said:

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast: for all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 3:19 KJVA)

Somehow, deep inside, we feel it should be different. Is there really no difference between us and the animals?
How are we to deal with all this? I don’t have any special wisdom, but I have come to a simple belief. The way to deal with it is to accept — to embrace the truth of these scriptures. The number of our days has been determined by God. We have no control. We might be in His presence this very minute, or tomorrow, or … It doesn’t matter when. We have to be prepared.