I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.
It is a declaration of confidence that a person brought near to death will recover and go on living to make known what God has done. Spoken in sickness when outward hope is small and recovery seems impossible, the affirmation itself revives and strengthens faith. It calls the sick to trust God and Jesus as Healer for full restoration, expecting to be spared rather than assuming it is God's will to die, and to rely on strength through Christ rather than on human strength. The life thus claimed has purpose, to preach again, to warn the church and those acting against God's will, to expose wrong, and to praise and glorify God, as seen when a wasted minister looked to outlive slanderers, a dying boy was restored, and a stricken reformer rose to denounce corruption. Yet claiming it gives no human power to heal, for healing remains God's work according to His will, and whether living or dying believers belong to the Lord with hope of resurrection to His kingdom.
Confession of Faith in Sickness
The verse is a confession of faith to be spoken when sick and near death, affirming continued life instead of death in order to declare the Lord's works. It is to be uttered even when to all appearances recovery is impossible and there is little outward hope of survival, and speaking it revives and strengthens faith. It was spoken amid wasting cough and soreness of lungs and prostration of nerves when sinking toward a consumptive grave, and amid falsehoods and triumphing of opposers who said God would remove the sick one out of the way. It was spoken over a thirteen-year-old boy wasted almost to a skeleton after nine weeks of whooping cough with breath-stopping fits, thought to be in consumption, with his parents fearing loss of their only son. There it was declared as the answer to united earnest prayer asking the Lord to spare life, from belief that the sick would get well and that God would be glorified in the recovery by a visible manifestation of divine favor, followed by real and rapid restoration to health and rejoicing and praise for His wonderful work.
It directs the sick to trust God for healing and full restoration and to trust the Lord Jesus as Healer, hoping for recovery from illness. Ministers are urged not to assume that God wants them to die but to expect to be spared to serve His cause and do His will. It encourages faith in God rather than reliance on one's own strength, expressing confidence that through Christ's strength a person can overcome even harmful indulgence and live.
The life claimed is purposeful, for continued preaching ministry and bearing witness to God's works. It affirms a continuing duty to share God's messages with the church and with those in danger and acting against His will, even to live to preach at the funerals of opposers. It is the words the suffering husband might be inspired by faith to feel and say even as he feared he might die, pointing to continued life for that witness. Despite exhaustion and difficulty breathing when overtaxed, the speaker expects to live and do so, and after illness and prayer for healing the father would recover and live to praise and glorify God.
Claiming the verse gives a sick person a way to express faith and hope for recovery, but it does not mean human beings have power to heal, for healing is God's work and recovery is sought only if it is His will. Whether living or dying, believers belong to the Lord, and their hope is that those who served Him will be raised and live with Him in His kingdom. So Marian may live rather than die, yet there is comfort in the hope of resurrection if she dies.
Lives Spared to Witness
The promise means that a feeble minister, wasted with cough and soreness of lungs and prostration of nerves and sinking toward a consumptive grave, can take renewed faith to affirm restoration to life and strength to preach again. Even while opposers spread falsehoods and triumph that God will remove him out of the way, it declares that he will live and continue his work and proclaim what God has done, even to outlive his slanderers and preach at their funerals. It is to be claimed despite physicians' warnings of danger and despite delay in answered prayer, by trusting God to act in His own time and way, and even when the sufferer fears he might die it gives words of faith to feel and say that he will live and preach again.
The same confidence declares life instead of death over a thirteen-year-old boy, Gilbert Collins, wasted almost to a skeleton after nine weeks of whooping cough with breath-stopping fits. His parents feared he was in consumption and would be lost as their only son, and to all appearance there was no possibility of recovery. Yet united earnest prayer asked the Lord to spare his life, speaking continued life as the answer and affirming that God would be glorified in the recovery by a visible manifestation of divine favor. The result was real and rapid restoration to health, seen as God's work and followed by rejoicing and praise for His wonderful work.
The declaration also belongs to John Wycliffe, prematurely old and weakened by toil and study and the assaults of enemies and struck by dangerous illness. When representatives of four religious orders with four civil officers gathered about his bed as a supposed dying man to demand that he repent and retract what he had said to their injury, he listened in silence and asked to be raised up in bed. Then gazing steadily at them he answered in a firm strong voice that he would survive and live on to again expose the evil deeds of the friars, so that declaring the works of the Lord meant continued denunciation of clerical corruption. The astonished and abashed monks hurried from the room, and he recovered to perform his most important labors and to renewed work as a reformer.
It is a declaration of confidence that a person brought near to death will recover and go on living to make known what God has done. Spoken in sickness when outward hope is small and recovery seems impossible, the affirmation itself revives and strengthens faith. It calls the sick to trust God and Jesus as Healer for full restoration, expecting to be spared rather than assuming it is God's will to die, and to rely on strength through Christ rather than on human strength. The life thus claimed has purpose, to preach again, to warn the church and those acting against God's will, to expose wrong, and to praise and glorify God, as seen when a wasted minister looked to outlive slanderers, a dying boy was restored, and a stricken reformer rose to denounce corruption. Yet claiming it gives no human power to heal, for healing remains God's work according to His will, and whether living or dying believers belong to the Lord with hope of resurrection to His kingdom.
Confession of Faith in Sickness
The verse is a confession of faith to be spoken when sick and near death, affirming continued life instead of death in order to declare the Lord's works. It is to be uttered even when to all appearances recovery is impossible and there is little outward hope of survival, and speaking it revives and strengthens faith. It was spoken amid wasting cough and soreness of lungs and prostration of nerves when sinking toward a consumptive grave, and amid falsehoods and triumphing of opposers who said God would remove the sick one out of the way. It was spoken over a thirteen-year-old boy wasted almost to a skeleton after nine weeks of whooping cough with breath-stopping fits, thought to be in consumption, with his parents fearing loss of their only son. There it was declared as the answer to united earnest prayer asking the Lord to spare life, from belief that the sick would get well and that God would be glorified in the recovery by a visible manifestation of divine favor, followed by real and rapid restoration to health and rejoicing and praise for His wonderful work.
It directs the sick to trust God for healing and full restoration and to trust the Lord Jesus as Healer, hoping for recovery from illness. Ministers are urged not to assume that God wants them to die but to expect to be spared to serve His cause and do His will. It encourages faith in God rather than reliance on one's own strength, expressing confidence that through Christ's strength a person can overcome even harmful indulgence and live.
The life claimed is purposeful, for continued preaching ministry and bearing witness to God's works. It affirms a continuing duty to share God's messages with the church and with those in danger and acting against His will, even to live to preach at the funerals of opposers. It is the words the suffering husband might be inspired by faith to feel and say even as he feared he might die, pointing to continued life for that witness. Despite exhaustion and difficulty breathing when overtaxed, the speaker expects to live and do so, and after illness and prayer for healing the father would recover and live to praise and glorify God.
Claiming the verse gives a sick person a way to express faith and hope for recovery, but it does not mean human beings have power to heal, for healing is God's work and recovery is sought only if it is His will. Whether living or dying, believers belong to the Lord, and their hope is that those who served Him will be raised and live with Him in His kingdom. So Marian may live rather than die, yet there is comfort in the hope of resurrection if she dies.
Lives Spared to Witness
The promise means that a feeble minister, wasted with cough and soreness of lungs and prostration of nerves and sinking toward a consumptive grave, can take renewed faith to affirm restoration to life and strength to preach again. Even while opposers spread falsehoods and triumph that God will remove him out of the way, it declares that he will live and continue his work and proclaim what God has done, even to outlive his slanderers and preach at their funerals. It is to be claimed despite physicians' warnings of danger and despite delay in answered prayer, by trusting God to act in His own time and way, and even when the sufferer fears he might die it gives words of faith to feel and say that he will live and preach again.
The same confidence declares life instead of death over a thirteen-year-old boy, Gilbert Collins, wasted almost to a skeleton after nine weeks of whooping cough with breath-stopping fits. His parents feared he was in consumption and would be lost as their only son, and to all appearance there was no possibility of recovery. Yet united earnest prayer asked the Lord to spare his life, speaking continued life as the answer and affirming that God would be glorified in the recovery by a visible manifestation of divine favor. The result was real and rapid restoration to health, seen as God's work and followed by rejoicing and praise for His wonderful work.
The declaration also belongs to John Wycliffe, prematurely old and weakened by toil and study and the assaults of enemies and struck by dangerous illness. When representatives of four religious orders with four civil officers gathered about his bed as a supposed dying man to demand that he repent and retract what he had said to their injury, he listened in silence and asked to be raised up in bed. Then gazing steadily at them he answered in a firm strong voice that he would survive and live on to again expose the evil deeds of the friars, so that declaring the works of the Lord meant continued denunciation of clerical corruption. The astonished and abashed monks hurried from the room, and he recovered to perform his most important labors and to renewed work as a reformer.