The Righteous Perish

 “The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.  He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.”-Isaiah 57:1-2

Tragedy and death surround us every day.  It is a direct consequence of living in this world.  In our own lives and our own social circles there are those that leave us and the impact is great.  It is also true that there are those that die and it leaves no impact, not because we are callous to the loss but because we didn't know them.  Therefore, it is not the measure of a man how great his funeral procession is or how long the eulogy.  The scale of our life is not weighed by the number of people who attend our funeral, or how often our name after we are gone.  There are many righteous that perish and many merciful leave us every day and none take it to heart. 

 

Last week a dear soldier and fellow laborer here in Albany was suddenly killed in an automobile accident.  He woke up, no doubt, with plans to go about his day.  While heading south to attend a ministers conference, a truck collided with his van and took him out.  His name, like mine, and yours, will pass into obscurity as time marches on, but he shall enter into peace.The world won’t put on a parade.  There will be no televised funeral.  They won’t commission a statue in his honor, or broadcast a documentary to cement his legacy.  Like so many, these pillars of the earth all but vanish before our eyes, and none “layeth it to heart.”  It is not the way of the wicked to stop to consider that they are taken away from the evil to come.  That they now have “rest from their labours and their works do follow them.”  When a righteous man dies he dies entering into peace.  He is taken up into the arms of the Lord and granted entrance into heaven itself: “walking in his uprightness.”  His reward is unseen by the wicked.  It is unlauded, incalculable, and completely misunderstood by the world.  It can almost seem unfair at times, when a person who has lived for God, and walked in his uprightness is taken suddenly.  We inform the family, make the arrangements, have the funeral, and in a month or less, most of us move on.  Then a public figure dies, living in wickedness, and we spend days, sometimes weeks talking about it. Random strangers weep over the loss as though they just lost their best friend.  Considering deeply the “impact” they made on the world as though the music album they produced or product they created will echo in the halls of eternity forever.  When in fact, it matters very little (if not at all).  What matters is what we did for God.  How we lived for Him. 

When the righteous perish, it would do us well to lay it to heart.  To consider that we “are but flesh” and will be soon taken away.  To consider that the “world passeth away and the lust thereof”  To consider how fleeting our moments here on earth are, and how everlasting eternity is, and give ourselves to righteousness.  To quote Phillip Henry: “He is no fool who gives away what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”