How Fleeting is Life!

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 (Psalm 39:4-5 NKJV)

Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. (James 4:14 NKJV)

Taking Inventory

KIng David in Psalm 39 seems to be suffering a sickness (plague in some versions) that he considers to be discipline or chastisement from God.  Apparently, he, like all of us, was taking inventory of his life during this “stroke” from God.  He came to the conclusion that life was fleeting, temporary, and like a vapor.  It didn’t amount to much.  This may have been written late in life, as he asked for the Lord to give Him a little time to once again enjoy life before he would depart and be no more.

The Preciousness of Life

LIfe is precious.  That is why blood, the source and emblem of life, is not eaten in the Old Testament.  The blood represents the life of the person and the life of any animal that was slain.  We are reminded that the blood of Christ was precious, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1:18-19 NKJV).”

Why?

So if life is fleeting and yet the blood that represents life is precious, why is it so easy for people to take the life of others?  This is an act that cannot be undone.  We have people doing research into cures for diseases so that they can save life while at the same time we have people indiscriminately taking life in unnecessary wars and in unnecessary violence in our streets.  Just now we are hearing of a great earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand.  Our hearts grieve.  But we are also hearing of the great loss of life in Ukraine, in Palestine, in the Sudan.  Do we understand the precious nature of each life that is lost either through accident or war or through neighborhood brawls?

How quickly a life can be exterminated.  It is almost as simple for some people as blowing out the flame of a candle.  But God considers every person born into this world to be precious and he has said that shedding another’s blood in anger is the crime of an unbeliever.  The Apostle John tells us, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him (1 John 3:15 NKJV).”  

Blood Shed in War

Now I know that shedding blood in war is another thing and I frankly do not understand some of the wars of the Old Testament.  I know they occurred because God wanted His people to be preserved from the idolatry of the world.  So Joshua (with the Lord as the Captain of the Host) fought wars that totally annihilated people groups in the land Israel was given as a possession. 

I also know that He said foreign powers would be used to judge His own people who had turned away from Him.  Likely, the children that died in these wars went to heaven directly, where if they had been raised in idolatry they might have died as unbelievers.  That is just my reasoning.  I do believe that every person who dies in wars, just or unjust, is loved by God.  But I have to leave it there as there are some things God has done that I wouldn’t have done if I were God.  I do know that since God judges the sin of unbelief so harshly, I would not want to get on God’s bad side.  

Loss Because of the Loss of Life

LIfe is precious but it can be snuffed out in an instant.  Lives lost might be the lives that could have found the cure for cancer or that could have found a way for cars to run on fuel other than gasoline.  Perhaps they could have found a way to feed all the hungry in the world.  Every life brought into this world is brought into it for a reason.  Every life lost is the loss of potential blessing.  

Even if we live a long and happy life, it is going to come to an end.  Let’s not waste our own lives and certainly we don’t want to waste the lives of others.  At the very least everyone born into this world should be given the opportunity to prepare for the day when they will meet God.  They may not get to read and study the whole of God’s word as I have, but at the very least, they should be exposed to the truth of John 3:16.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16 NKJV).”

Conclusion

God loves the whole world.  Do we? LIfe is fleeting but life is precious.

Bruce Collins

Meditation for the week of March 30, 2025

If you would like further conversation about the issues in these meditations, contact me at collinsbd@yahoo.com and I will try to accommodate you with a virtual Bible Study.