Psalm 39 Continued…
Psalm 39:4-6 Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath. Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.
As already stated, this Psalm contains a theme that is one we see all throughout the Scriptures, the brevity of life. Verse 4 echoes the same sentiment we read in Psalm 90:12:
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
This awareness of how short life is tends to bring clarity and focus in life and, as the Psalmist states, wisdom along with it as well. Another Psalm that carries this same sentiment…
Psalm 102:3, 11 For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers. My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
These ideas are not just found in the Psalms. We see it in the prophets:
Isaiah 40:6-8 A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
We see it in Job…
Job 8:9, 14:1 for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
We see it in the New Testament…
James 4:13-17 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
1 Peter 1:24-25
For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.“
The totality of Scripture warn mankind of not recognizing how short his or her life is on planet earth. Keeping that thought in mind safeguards you against distraction, time-wasting, and foolishness.
PRAY
Lord, help me to know I am not here long.