by Bermie Dizon
Just a week ago, we were laughing around a table, eating lunch in a Chinese restaurant in Pampanga, Philippines.
We were reminiscing about our youth, telling stories we had told before, smiling at how time had shaped us.
She was tired but hopeful. She was looking forward to having a vacation with friends in the paradise island of Boracay. She was also planning her return to the United States.
After years of caring for her elderly mother, who died a few months ago, she was finally thinking about herself–going back home to the USA.
Then came the fever. Asthma tightened her breathing. And before we could process it, Irma was gone.
When something like this happens, we say what we always say: “Her life was cut short.”
But if life is cut short, does that mean God himself was surprised?
For the first few nights, I couldn’t sleep. I have been praying about that phrase. In fact, I have heard it so many times when a loved one dies.
From our perspective, it feels cut short. There were unfinished plans. A vacation not taken. A chapter not written. It feels like a book that stopped mid-sentence.
But from God’s perspective, is there such a thing as a life cut short?
God is never surprised. He does not gasp in shock the way we do. He does not discover news. He knows the beginning and the end. Scripture tells us that all our days were written in His book before one of them came to be.
“Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’” Isaiah 46:9–10 (NIV)
That means what feels sudden to me was not sudden to Him.
Here is what humbles me. We assume the “next chapter” must be here on earth. But what if, from God’s view, eternity was always the next chapter?
My cousin sacrificed years caring for her mother. She postponed her own dreams. She poured out her time, energy, and strength. From our human timeline, it feels unfair that she did not get to enjoy the reward of her sacrifice.
But Jesus’ earthly life was only thirty-three years. By human standards, that sounds short. Yet who would dare say His life was incomplete?
Length is not the same as fullness.
Perhaps in God’s wisdom, a life is not measured by how long it lasts, but by how fully it fulfills its purpose.
I still grieve. I still ask why. I still wish we had more lunches, more conversations, more laughter.
But I also know this: the One who holds our days is the same One who entered death Himself.
Jesus did not remain distant from our sorrow. He walked into it. He breathed our air. He felt suffocation on the cross. He faced the darkness and broke it from the inside.
Because of Him, death is not a sentence cut short. It is a doorway into a chapter we cannot yet see.
I do not understand God’s timing. But I trust His heart. And even when the chapter closes suddenly, I trust the Author.
From our side of time, some lives feel cut short. From God’s eternal perspective, every life is fully known, fully held, and fully completed in His wisdom. What feels unfinished to us may already be whole in Christ.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I do not understand Your timing. I do not understand why some chapters close so quickly. My heart aches for what could have been, for the plans that will never unfold. But You are the Author of every life. You are never surprised. You are never late. You entered death so that it would never have the final word. Help me trust You when I cannot feel Your hand. Teach me to see that no life in You is ever wasted or cut short. Hold my grief. Hold my questions. Hold my heart. I place my sorrow into Your eternal hands. Amen.
BERMIE DIZON is a retired pastor of Grace Communion International (GCI), Glendora, CA and a former writer for USA Tribune for nine years. He is the author of the book “God In Every Step” and has now published his second book, “God In Every Heartbeat” which contains 52 heartfelt devotionals drawn from personal stories, Scripture, and the lives of others. The book is now available on Amazon.
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