When God repeats himself, you’d better pay attention. For God to say something once is enough, but when He repeats it right away, you really know to lean in and listen!
I was reading our weekly reading with the kids (actually catching up from last week) and we read Psalm 39 yesterday. It sure hit us as we are grieving the sudden loss of dear friends.
Twice in this song of David, he through the Holy Spirit made this statement:
Psalm 39:5 – Surely all mankind stands as a breath! Selah
Psalm 39:11 – Surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah
Selah – The meaning of this word is debated and uncertain. But there seems to me to be an element of pausing to reflect. It is found primarily in the Psalms (71 times) and 3 times in Habakkuk. This word, whatever it means, is there because the Holy Spirit wants it to be there. If it indeed has some meaning of taking time to meditate, think of where the “Selah” is placed in Psalm 39. Each time we see the statement “Surely all mankind is a mere breath,” we see it followed with “Selah.”
Regardless of the meaning of Selah, God wants us to pause and meditate on this concept.
Surely all mankind is a mere breath.
Take a breath. Right now. No, really, stop and take a breath. How long did that take? A second or two, right? That’s about it. One breath, and your life is gone. Whether a person dies at 10, 50, or 100, that life in the scheme of eternity is just a small blip on the radar. One breath and it’s gone.
One accident and it’s gone. One decision and it’s gone. One hateful act and it’s gone. One disease and it’s gone. One storm and it’s gone. Even if it isn’t one of those, even if you live for 90 years, you will still tell others how fast it went.
Maybe you’re familiar with this old, yet timeless hymn, “As the Life of a Flower” by Laura Newell:
As a life of a flower, as a breath or a sigh, so the years that we live, as a dream hasten by;
True, today we are here, but tomorrow may see just a grave in the vale, and a memory of me.
A mere breath. Think about that. Really think about it.
David, knowing the brevity of life, had an incredible amount of wisdom, humility and courage to pray what he did in Psalm 39:4-7.
“O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather! “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.
What is David asking? “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am.”
David’s prayer makes us uncomfortable. We might be a point that we don’t want anymore reminders. But I know it needs to be prayed. More importantly, God knows it needs to be prayed. David suffered many tragic losses in his life, but he had the wisdom to keep praying this prayer.
How did David assess the years of his life? A few handbreadths. Put your hands beside each other. How much do they measure? Miles? Yards? No. It will be measured in inches. Compare the width of your hands to the expanse of the universe. Just a small speck, not even a blip on the radar. That is your life in comparison to eternity. David followed up with “my lifetime…is as nothing before” God. The ever-existing God in contrast to my few years? I am just a shadow. As the sun moves, the shadow shrinks and grows again, but in a few hours it is gone. The shadow is swallowed up by the darkness of evening.
David also addressed the vanity of life. You make money, heap it up. You work hard and build things and buy things. But who gathers it? Not you. You die. You go in the grave the same way you came out. Without a penny. This sure sounds like David’s son Solomon in Ecclesiastes 2. Solomon came to the same sickening, sobering conclusion. I worked so hard for this, and I die, and I can’t take a single penny of it.
So where does that leave us? It seems bleak. I don’t like this forecast. But the reality is, we live long enough to take a breath, we die, and then others get our stuff. If that is where the story ends, then that is mighty hopeless.
But that is not where David leaves it. Listen to David’s realization and focus.
“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.”
If it wasn’t for God, for what do we wait? We wait to die. We try to cheat it, extend our lives and avoid the inevitable. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We don’t wait for death, we wait for God! Our expectation, hope and trust is in the Almighty. The Everlasting, the Merciful, the God full of lovingkindness. We know we will die, we don’t know when. But that does not move us. We wait for God.
God is not uncertain like our lives. He is not a handbreadth; He is the one who measures the universe with his handbreadths (Isaiah 40:12). He is not a shadow; he is the sunlight. He is not mere breath; He is the source of air, the one who breathes into us life.
Listen to what the Lord sent His messenger to cry out to His people. Read Isaiah 40:6-8:
A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
We fade and wither and so does our beauty. But some things are eternal. God and His word are those things.
One final thought for your encouragement, and it comes from another song “Hold to God’s Unchanging Hand” by Jennie Wilson.
Time is filled with swift transition. Naught of earth unmoved can stand.
Build your hopes on things eternal. Hold to God’s unchanging hand.
Your life is a mere breath. Hold on to the eternal, unchanging God who loves you.