Depart Satisfied, Not Sick

Psalm 91:16 (ASV)
¹⁶ With long life will I satisfy him,
And show him my salvation.

The above-scripture contains an important promise when it comes to death.  It says “with long life will I satisfy” him.  Most would agree that it is hard to be satisfied when battling sickness. A person may become resigned to a terminal disease, but only after facing the fact that they are not going to get better. In the previous post it was noted that what the Word has to say about death is quite different from what the world has to say about it. Sadly, the world and much of the Church know very little about the promise found in Psalm 91:16.

How do we begin to receive the promise of Psalm 91:16?  We must first “unlearn” what we’ve have been taught about death. Romans 12:2 (NLT) is the starting point: “² Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think…” Therefore, we “unlearn the behavior and customs of this world” (pertaining to dying) and we do that by changing the way we think.

 It probably will take time for this promise to get down into our spirits – any time we decide to believe God’s Word we are going to find ourselves swimming upstream in a world which is going in the opposite direction. Begin focusing on scriptures that pertain to this promise.  John 10:10 is foundational. It basically says that God is good, the devil is bad, and they will never change places.  Find healing scriptures – Isaiah 53:5 and I Peter 2:24, are a great starting place. Galatians 3:13 (TPT) sums up the finished work of Christ – “¹³ Yet, Christ paid the full price to set us free from the curse of the law. He absorbed the curse completely as he became a curse in our place. For it is written: ‘Everyone who is hung upon a tree is cursed.’” Go to Deuteronomy chapter 28 and read what curses Galatians 3:13 is referring to – many of which are sicknesses and diseases.  We meditate (think about what each scripture says) on them until they become more real to us than the sickness and disease around us.

 As we begin to change our thinking, next we must change the words we speak. Begin by declaring, “When my time of departure comes, I will leave satisfied not sick.” Focus on the goodness of God – His nature, His character – and His predisposition to love and care for His children. With time, what has largely been in our heads will drop into our hearts. A revelation will come that surely God is big enough and good enough to bring His children into His presence without having to use sickness and disease to get them there. Begin believing for a GRACE-enveloped departure – one that sums up one of the meanings of GRACE itself – that being, “sweatless effort”!

There are great testimonies of people departing satisfied not sick. One well-known minister of the gospel was ready to depart. He called his friends and family members to tell them he was leaving. He called them on a Friday, went to bed on Saturday, and was in his eternal home on Sunday morning. Another well-known minister of the gospel said you should depart after having done something you enjoyed doing.  On the day of his departure, he had just had a big country breakfast and was topping it off with a bowl of strawberries sitting in his recliner. When his wife checked on him, he had departed. (These are recollections from a number of years ago and are not verbatim accounts, but the heart of what happened is there).

The nagging question for us all is, “What if we believe and still get sick and die?” Well, we will enter heaven as a member of the “Hall of Faith” written about in Hebrews 11. Verse 39 refers to those who did not receive the promise yet entered heaven with a” good reputation because of their faith” (from the New Living Translation). As one very well-known minister of the gospel says, “I’d rather believe God for something big and get half of it, than to believe Him for nothing and get all of it!” Amen to that!!!

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