I assume you are asking if the specific time and the way a person dies is by God’s direct will. Before we answer that, Scripture is clear that God has given the sentence of death to every man. Hebrews 9:27 declares “It is appointed unto men once to die.” We all know that this “death sentence” is because of sin, for Romans 6:23 states, “For the wages of sin is death.” And we also know that death started with the first man Adam, for Romans 5:12 says “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

Regarding THE TIME of one’s death, let’s read Psalm 139:13, 15-16: “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb…My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written THE DAYS THAT WERE ORDAINED FOR ME, when as yet there was not one of them” (NASB). In this wonderful Psalm, David speaks again and again of how God KNOWS ALL THINGS. He knew David while he was being formed in his mother’s womb, and He knew the day David would die. This is all implied in the words, “The days that were ordained for me.” So, it is certain that God knows the very moment we will breathe our last breath, and when that occurs “the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

This also means that God knows THE WAY in which we will die, but does He DETERMINE “the way in which we will die?” There are examples in Scripture that teach us that God has determined the way in which SOME will die. In John 21:18 Jesus told Peter, “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” The next verse says, “Now this He said, SIGNIFYING BY WHAT KIND OF DEATH HE WOULD GLORIFY GOD.” Jesus was foretelling Peter’s death by CRUCIFIXION and history records that he was indeed crucified.

There are other examples where people die because of their own sinful lifestyle. In Ezekiel 33:10-11 we read, “Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have spoken, saying, ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them; how then can we survive?’ Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declared the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel’?” In a sense God did determine they would die if they didn’t turn from their sins, but we can see from this passage that had they repented they would have lived. So, here we have a case of a “premature death” that occurs because of a wick lifestyle. We often hear today of one dying in a car accident because they were drunk. Did God determine their death? I think not! He ALLOWED it to happen, but it was their sin that actually determined their “premature death.”

As far as seeking medical attention when we are sick, God has blessed certain people with the knowledge to treat our sicknesses; we call them DOCTORS. There was a famous doctor who wrote a gospel and another book in the New Testament. Do you know who that was? We have the answer in Colossians 4:14, “Luke, the BELOVED PHYSICIAN, sends you his greetings.” Luke wrote the gospel that bears his name and the book of Acts. We learn in Acts that Luke accompanied the apostle Paul on some of his missionary journeys and we can be sure that Paul and others took advantage of his medical expertise when they became sick. We can even treat ourselves with “home remedies,” as we see in 1st Timothy 5:23, “No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.” (246.3) (DO)