Scripture
Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You; Surely every man, even standing firm, is altogether vanity.
~Psalm 39:5, LSB
Quote
Life here on earth is vain. Man in all his creature comforts lives in continual uncertainty.
~Matthew Henry
The Hebrew word translated ‘vanity’ in the KJV and the LSB is ‘hebel’ and it literally means vapor or breath. The NLT is a contextual translation but when it comes to Psalm 39:5, the NLT uses the literal meaning of the word, “My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.” The figurative meaning of ‘hebel’ is vapor or breath. On a cold day, you can see your breath because when you exhale, for a very brief moment, your breath will become a vapor when it meets the cold air. David’s point is that nothing about human life is substantial. Human life is mutable and very uncertain.
Life is full of uncertainty even for the young, the healthy and the prosperous. Rich people die every day and so do healthy people. Young people also die. There are no guarnatees in this life. We worship beauty but nothing is more fleeting than beauty. I am talking about physical beauty not virtous beauty. Mother always said, “Pretty is as pretty does.” We also worship success and prosperity but they too are fleeting. We never know when affliction is coming. One of my best friends in college ran track with us at Calhoun. He excelled in the javelin and went from Calhoun to Jacksonville State on a full scholarship. He said he had Native American blood and I believe he was telling the truth. He had a slender build, about 5’10” and maybe 130 pounds. He was one of the best athletes I have ever known. He spent his last fifteen years in a nursing home and was only 63 when he passed away.
I visited a friend Wednesday who played basketball at Jacksonville State. Around a decade ago, he got lung cancer and battled it for years but then he had a stroke and now he cannot walk. You will not meet a nicer person. He has a marvelous attitude. You never know folks. Give God thanks for the present moment because that is all you have.
Matthew Henry, who out did himself on Psalm 39, said: “Affliction gets are undivided attention; it drives us to prayer and creates a spirit of humility. All of these things work together for our sanctification.”
How would you handle affliction? How would I? Truth is, I don’t know and don’t want to know. Let me tell you what blows my mind. Fanny Crosby, the hymn writer was blinded at age four by a quack doctor. She not only praised God for the blindness, she prayed for, blessed and gave thanks for the quack doctor. For Jack Bailey to do such a thing would be pure grace.
Extra
As we grow older, we learn to be thankful but not boastful. I want to praise the LORD for a good day yesterday. I have not had a day like it in a while and I drove home from worship giving thanks. I told June the sermon was going to be short {15 minutes} but the Spirit took over and I went into overtime. God is good. On the way home, June said, “Why didn’t you use your old sermon outline; I have it written in my bible.” I said what is it: she said you had three points: “The Grief, the Gift and the Glory.” I may have to preach it again.
Chilly this morning but pleasant. Thirty-one degrees doesn’t bother me when there is no wind. Yesterday was just right.
December 1, 2025…unbelievable. I hope you have a great Monday and thanks for reading the blog.