Life is transient

 

When we started out last week, we saw scripture verses that said life is a vapor. It's like the grass of the field, and flourishing in the morning, but faded and gone by sundown.

Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
    they are like the new grass of the morning:
 In the morning it springs up new,
    but by evening it is dry and withered. (Psalm 90:5-6)

Because life is so short, we must live for the Lord and live meaningfully, productively. 

This psalm apparently originated from an unspecified problem in David's life. We see in verses ten and eleven that it could be some type of illness, and David interpreted this as God's hand of discipline:

Remove your scourge from me;
    I am overcome by the blow of your hand.
 When you rebuke and discipline anyone for their sin,
    you consume their wealth like a moth—
    surely everyone is but a breath. (Psalm 39:10-11)

In the midst of his suffering, David sounds a lot like Job, doesn't he? He is tormented by the severity of his illness and he is thinking of the shortness of life. Job (chapter 7, verses 16-19) said:

 I despise my life; I would not live forever.
    Let me alone; my days have no meaning.

 “What is mankind that you make so much of them,
    that you give them so much attention,

that you examine them every morning
    and test them every moment?
 Will you never look away from me,
    or let me alone even for an instant?

Job has already talked about the awesome power of God, His creative work, and much more; it's as if in his pain, the man is asking if perhaps God could pay attention to those things, instead of disciplining or testing him. "Leave me alone!" he wails. But in all of their suffering, both Job and David may complain - but they are not defiant. 

David is well aware, as he has written in other psalms, that unbelievers are waiting to scoff at him and at his God, so he is careful. He puts his protest in words that are submissive: in verse four he says he is ready to learn and in seven, he says his only hope is his God. As we continue in Psalm 39, we will see that David makes the point: life is transient and must be lived for the Lord.