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Breath of Life

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. —Job 33:4

In his book Life After Heart Surgery, David Burke recalls his brush with death. Lying in his hospital bed after a second open-heart surgery, he was unable to draw a full breath. Feeling that he was slipping toward eternity, he prayed one last time, trusting God and thanking Him for forgiveness of his sin.

When his nurse asked how he was feeling, he replied, “I’m okay now,” explaining he was ready to go to heaven and meet God. “Not on my shift, buddy!” she said. The doctors opened his chest again and removed two liters of fluid. That done, David began to recover.

It’s not unusual to ponder what it will be like to face death. But those who “die in the Lord” have the certainty that they are “blessed” (Revelation 14:13) and that their death is “precious in the sight of the Lord” (Psalm 116:15).

God fashioned our days even before we existed (Psalm 139:16), and we exist now only because “the breath of the Almighty gives [us] life” (Job 33:4). Though we don’t know how many breaths we have left—we rest in the knowledge that He does.

Cindy Hess Kasper