In this era, we can say that the wickedness of man has escalated in a certain level that never imagined before. Sometimes a person would ask God why do evildoers live much longer. Why don't God annihilate those people, or wipe them out on Earth?And why not let those righteous ones to live instead to enjoy long and peaceful lives?
If we are going to refer to the Bible in Psalm 90:10 (KJV) mentions the possible lifespan of a person. It says
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
A human person may live possibly until he is seventy or eighty years old, depending on his bodily strength.
But aside from physical strength, another contributory factor to a person’s having a long life is his fear in God.
As written in Proverbs 10:27 (KJV) it says,
The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
And therefore, God may prolong the life of a person if he is God-fearing.
However, this will not always be the case. There are people that lives long but are not God-fearing people. There are also cases that God lets the wicked people to live longer because He gives them chances ti repent. He want them to change so that they'll also have a chance to salvation. He doesn't take away the lives of wicked people yet despite of their wickedness because He wants them to come and repent.
Now, if wicked people is having long lives, there are also upright and righteous people who die young.In the Bible, there are righteous people who died early like John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ, who both died before reaching the age of thirty-four; the same goes for the Apostle James, who also died young.
But, aside from these biblical personalities, we are also aware of stories of innocent babies who die in the wombs of their mothers; others during infancy due to congenital diseases, or sometimes cause by the negligence and cruelty of other people.
The question that you ask is, why does He permit the early death of the righteous and the innocent?
In Isaiah 57:1 (KJV) it says,
The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
There are times when God takes away the life of a righteous person quite early to spare him from the evil that will come later on. He doesn’t want him to be affected or to be corrupted by the evil that is about to come.Apparently, this is God’s gesture of compassion and mercy to him.
On the other hand, He is giving the wicked chances to repent and change, which is the reason why He prolongs their lives. Which is also a gesture of His love and mercy toward them.
2 Peter 3:9 (KJV) says that,
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
God doesn’t want anyone to perish but to be saved, that is why He gives the wicked chances to come to repent.
We always need to remember that God is love; He is just and merciful.Either He take away the life of the righteous person or give a wicked person a long life, we can be sure that there is a valid reason behind of it.And it is not for us to question His discretion.But their is always certainty that whatever His decision is, it is always prompted by justice, love, and mercy.
