January 16, 2020

Happy Thursday. Is your week going well? I have a good friend who has been trying to get enough money saved up for her retirement. She jokingly says “If I just knew how long I am going to live, I could plan so much better!” And all of us over 50 certainly understand that dilemma. But alas none of us, regardless of our age, really know for sure when the last day will be. What we can know is that even if we live a long life, it’s but a vapor. 


“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.” ‭‭James‬ ‭4:14‬ ‭NIV‬‬


Our lives go quickly and the further we go in this journey, the more clear it becomes to us just how quick that quickly comes. 


“Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure...But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭39:4-5, 7‬ ‭NIV‬‬


David here is not asking to know how long he would live or what his last day would be, but rather he is trying to ask God for wisdom. The wisdom to understand how short life here is and how to not center himself on things of this world. He compares life to a handbreadth, the smallest unit of measurement at that time in Israel. It was about a couple of inches. 


Certainly every person at his best state is a vapor, but 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 had the right to be a little egotistical, David did. Yet he understood that he, like everyone else is a mist, merely a vapor, a puff of smoke.


He finishes here to help us here with a great truth—even though life is short, it can have real meaning. But that real meaning of our existence must be in our relationship with the eternal, supreme, sovereign God of the universe, our Hope. 


Father of Glory and ruler is all, thank you for caring about each of us. It is such a mystery that the God who created it all, created each of us and cares for us as precious individuals. Help us like David to remember how fleeting life is and to know if we are going to accomplish anything for your glory, we need to be about our business. What a wonderful God you are and we ask you to bless those who are sick and those who mourn. Touch them Lord so they know you are near. We sing glory to the King. Amen and amen. 


Love you dear one,

Pam



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