How Fleeting Life Is

How Fleeting Life IsPsalm 39: 4-6 ““LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.” Selah “Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, And does not know who will gather them.””This was a verse that was received during my prayer group last week. I wanted to get a deeper understanding of what the verses meant, so I went online to the Enduring Word Bible Commentary that I learned about not that long ago. I believe it is a minister who has compiled a commentary on the different books of the Bible. He helps to explain it so we can all understand what is being said in a little more detail. Sometimes it is nice to know what certain things meant back in the time when they were written. Yes, the Bible is a living Word that is just as true today as it was the day it was written.However, sometimes it is nice to be able to understand why they chose to use certain words or if those words had a different meaning back when the Bible was written. Also, the Bible was not originally written in English, so sometimes the word that was used in the Greek or Hebrew edition is not an exact translation into English, and I love to hear what the word they actually used meant and how it is different than the English word. This stuff is discovered by theologians who study scripture and the ancient times and fill us in on all that they learn. I love learning more in-depth explanations of what the Scripture is really telling us. Today I will share with you the explanation I found on the enduring Word Commentary website as I think He explained it very well.First, it says, LORD, make me know my end: David’s silence was broken in the best way – by humble prayer to God. He would not speak his fears and doubts before the wicked, but he would pour them out before His God. Here, David asked God for wisdom – specifically, the wisdom to know the shortness and the frailty of his life (that I may know how frail I am).We might have expected David to break his silence by telling off his enemies or by defending his own righteousness. He did neither; he sought God for wisdom. “It is well that the vent of his soul was Godward and not towards man. Oh! if my swelling heart must speak, Lord let it speak with thee.” (Spurgeon)Next it says, Make me to know my end: “This was not a prayer inspired by a desire to know when life would end; it was not a request to be told the date of death. It was a prayer for an accurate apprehension of the fact that life quantitatively – that is, as to the number of its days – is as nothing.” (Morgan)Then, You have made my days as handbreadths: “He compares it to a ‘handbreadth,’ one of the smallest units of measurement in ancient Israel. It is equivalent to a couple of inches.’” (VanGemeren)“Life is very short, but a great deal may be done. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in three years, saved the world. Some of his followers in three years have been the means of saving many and many a soul.” (Spurgeon)Next, Certainly, every man in his best state is but a vapor: David was a champion, an accomplished Special Forces warrior, a leader, a celebrity, a skilled poet, a musical genius, a survivor, and a king. If anyone might have thought more highly of himself, David had the right to. Yet he understood that he, like every man, is – at his best state – merely a vapor, a puff of steam or smoke.“He learns that, since life is short, the only real meaning of a man or woman’s existence must be in his relationship to God, for God is eternal.” (Boice)Next, the word Selah: The idea in Hebrew for this word (occurring 74 times in the Old Testament) is for a pause. Most people think it speaks of a reflective pause, a pause to meditate on the words just spoken. It may also be a musical instruction for a musical interlude of some kind.This Selah is an appropriate call for each one to pause and think of the shortness and frailty of his life. It should drive us to great dependence upon God and great earnestness about life and doing good in the short time we do have.It goes on to say, Surely they busy themselves in vain. Sounding very much like the later Book of Ecclesiastes, David thought about the mass of humanity who lived, ignoring the shortness and frailty of life.· Each of them walks about, but like a shadow, living a life with no substance.· They are busy but in vain, being blind to eternal things.· Each of them works hard and heaps up riches, yet does not think beyond his own short and frail life.This is the land of shadows. Heaven is the land of reality, of true high definition.“Every man that exists is vanity. All his projects, plans, schemes, etc., soon come to nothing. His body also molders with the dust, and shortly passes both from the sight and remembrance of men.” (Clarke)I know today was a bit more technical than I usually do, and yet I thought it was a good explanation of what David was saying in this verse. I think all too often, we go about our days as if they are unlimited. We act as if we don’t have an end to our timeline here on earth. I am not saying we should constantly be thinking about when we will die or the fact we only have so many days, weeks, months, or years left on Earth. I do, however, think we live more intentionally when we know that our time is coming to an end. We don’t have to wait until we get a bad prognosis to start living our lives intentionally. The Lord showed me this in my prayer time this morning. He told me that I was accomplishing all I needed to get done, and yet there is a whole lot of stuff that I want to do but am not doing simply because I am not sitting down and planning out my day or my week. I end up wasting time because I have “free time” and I didn’t have anything scheduled during that time so I don’t really know what to work on and I spend the whole time trying to decide. Or even worse, I get caught up in scrolling on the internet or playing a game and don’t get anything done.I don’t think the Lord was scolding me in our time this morning. I think it was a gentle reminder that a little planning goes a long way. I want to pass that message on to you today, too. What is it that you really want to do and yet don’t think you have time to do? Take a few minutes, look at your schedule for the week, and find a place where you could do that thing, even if it is just for a few minutes. You will be much happier when you are living more intentionally. The alternative is to allow life to dictate how you go about your day, and you just show up and do it. This has some appeal, but I think it is a trick from the enemy to keep up from accomplishing the amazing things we could accomplish with a bit more planning. One of my favorite lines in a song is from the song What Are We Waiting For by For King and Country. The line I like in the song says, “What are we waiting for? Why are we wasting all the time like someone's making more?” I love this because it is a great reminder that we have a finite amount of time. The time that we waste, we don’t get that time back. It is gone forever. I would love to encourage you to take a few moments today to pause reflectively, as mentioned above, and think about how short life is and then think about how you could be living this one life that we get more purposefully. Let’s live it with more intention. What do you want to do that you have been putting off for another time? Is not the right time to do it?Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing, and we would be lost without you. Lord, help us to live our lives more purposefully. Help us not just to float through life but to live it with intention. Help us to see how short life is and yet not let that worry or overcome us. Help us to use that knowledge to fuel our passion for living.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day.Today’s Word from the Lord was received in May 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Do not be a coward. Do not lay back. Know that I am the Lord, and my Spirit is there to bring joy as you do what He says. Be convinced that I am with you. Fear not. Again, I say, move forward.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace