24 Hours to Live--How Shall I Spend Them?

Our recent Old Testament Bible reading has been in I Samuel. King Saul had disobeyed the Lord several times, and Samuel had told him the Lord had rejected him from being king, and that David would be the new king. Saul added to his sins by pursuing David with the intent to kill him. Upon being confronted by his son, Jonathan, about this, Saul became enraged and sought to kill him with a spear. Later, David also confronted him about this on at least two occasions. Each time, Saul appeared to repent, but it was short-lived, and soon David was on the run from him again.

Finally, the Philistines gathered together for war. Saul, very much afraid, asked his servants if they knew of a medium he could contact, since Samuel was now dead. So Saul went to the witch of En-dor, and God allowed Samuel's spirit to rise from the ground (much to the witch's surprise and terror) and talk to Saul. Samuel told Saul he would die in the battle, along with his sons. Saul's response?

"Then Saul fell immediately full length on the earth, and was
very much afraid, because of the words of Samuel;
and there was no strength in him;for he had eaten
no bread all the day,nor all the night."
(I Samuel 28:20)

The following verses tell how the woman and servants persuaded Saul to eat, then the Bible says, "Then they rose up, and went away that night." (I Samuel 28:25b) Saul, who claimed to be a believer in the one true God, had just been handed his death sentence. He had maybe 24 hours left to live. What did he do with that time? The Bible does not say, though we can infer that he rejoined the army of Israel before the battle began.

It got me to thinking. If I knew I would die tomorrow night, what would I be doing? I would hope that I would be confessing and repenting of sin, restoring any broken relationships, spending time with my husband and two sons, and most importantly, spending as much time as possible with God, since I would soon be seeing Him. I was also challenged to be doing those things NOW, since none of us knows when we will be called Home.

It was troubling to see a family member who was terminally ill, and claimed to be a Christian, spending all of her time reading romance novels, watching TV, doing picture puzzles, and doing word puzzles. I did not see her read her Bible, and it was not even on her bedside table for quite some time. Surely she realized she would soon be meeting her Maker. Why didn't she spend more time with Him? Only she and God knew the answer to that question. Thinking of this led to the thoughts on these passages today.