A Disturbing or Comforting Passage of Scripture?

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The righteous pass away; the godly often die before their time. And no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. For the godly who die will rest in peace. Isaiah 57: 1-2 (NLT)

 I've been making my way very slowly through Isaiah since Dad died.  Isaiah was Dad's favorite book of the Bible and it seemed a fitting tribute to read it in memory of him.  These two verses stuck out to me this morning when I read them and I thought how lucky Dad is; how lucky Cheryl is and how lucky Nicole and Bentley are.  Yes, perhaps many would say, Dad lived out his time, but he still died long before we expected him to. No one will deny that Cheryl, Bentley and Nicole went to heaven too soon and yet look at what they were spared: "the evil to come."

This begs the question: what is wrong with us?  Are we not righteous enough? Why are we still here? Resting in peace sounds like a beautiful thing and yet for those of us who can't see the other side, it is also scary. The unknowns are often scary.

So how do we take this passage? Do we use it as a comfort for those who left us for heaven? Or is it a warning to us on earth that we need to "try harder"? What are your thoughts?

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