Objection: If You Could Always Claim I SHALL NOT DIE BUT LIVE (Psalm 118:17), You Could Live Forever
This is very similar to the objection If You Could Always Get Healed, You Would Live Forever, so you can refer to that answer for comments on this objection.
However, I will make a comment specific to this one. Like Paul, you may find yourself at some point just wanting to go home to heaven because you realize that you’ve done all that God had for you in this life. Paul wanted to depart at one point, but he decided to stay around for the good of the church. However, he did get to the point that he could say that he had fought this fight, finished his course, and was ready to leave:
2 Timothy 4:6-7:
For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Once you realize that you’ve finished your mission on the earth, there is not much point in hanging around far worse surroundings here when you could be in eternally better surroundings.
Until you are ready to go, you SHOULD agree with the Word and proclaim that you shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord (Psalm 118:17)!
I knew a woman who raised godly children who in turn raised godly children. She was well into her 90’s when she told her family that she had really done all that she wanted to do in this life and that she was ready to go on heaven. The next day they found her out in her porch swing, and it was apparent that she had died praising the Lord! Now that’s a much better way to go than gasping for your last breath in an intensive care unit or slipping away in a morphine-induced fog at a hospice home. The way that this woman went is the way that God would like all of us to come home. Besides, it avoids giving preachers the opportunity to say that God “called you home” with one of the devil’s diseases! They will probably have to cite something as your official cause of death (for example, your heart stopped), but at least those around you can know what really happened.
God does not promise you immortality in your current mortal body, but even in the Old Testament, He promised to satisfy you with long life (Psalm 91:16)! If you’re not satisfied, keep on declaring that you shall not die, but live, and keep going until you’re satisfied. You will get to that point eventually.
See also: