My Days as Handbreadths

It’s funny how the older you get, birthdays seems to remind you more and more of how short our lives really are. Psalms 39 struck a chord with me today as I have been thinking about how short our lives are and how we choose to spend that time.

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
Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them. Psalms 39:5-6

I, like many others, had to look up the definition of handbreadths. It literally means just inches, like the depth of 4 fingers together. If we totaled our days on Earth and set them before the Lord, they would look like nothing to Him. He is infinite. As the text reads, our days would look like vapor. Barely even noticeable.

When we are kids, we typically want nothing more than to grow up to be an adult. How freeing and awesome must it be to grow up?  Now, as an adult, I envy the kid. They have their whole lives in front of them with little responsibilities. We always seem to desire what we do not have.  We reach adulthood and we “busy ourselves in vain.” We try to build up wealth, possessions or success.

Personally, I am a “go-getter”. I want to achieve success in life and in the things I work on. However, I have a balance in me that constantly pulls me back to reality. I believe that balance comes from the Lord. He helps me reflect on my heart and my motivations. What am I working for? What is my heart seeking? I do not want to heap up reaches for the sake of gathering riches. But, rather than completely throwing out the idea of working hard, I have found that the heart is what needs examined. The Lord can reveal to us our motivations and our desires. We can ask Him to align our desires with His.

I believe the next two verses offer us guidance on this path.

“And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.
Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Do not make me the reproach of the foolish. Psalms 39-7-8

Where does my hope and inspiration come from? Is it the success? Possibly wealth or possessions? No. My hope is in the Lord. Knowing that my life is but a vapor humbles me before Him. I only have so long to live. I awake each morning with a hope that I can make a positive influence on the things that I touch. My hope is in the Lord, who delivers us from our transgressions. I am not perfect – far from it! But, we have a perfect God who loves us.

 

 

God’s Will Versus Ours

I have always found it interesting that God has His will and we have ours. He gave us free will so that we can make choices, live our lives. But, He also has a will and makes plans. Those plans do affect our lives.

Joseph’s brothers devised a plan to get rid of him. They decided that they did not want him in their lives. Of course, this sounds like a very bad event for Joseph. What ultimately could have ruined his life forever ended up being a good turn of events.

God intervened His will in Jopeph’s life. God had a plan to turn these events into something good. Joseph ended up living the dreams God had given him.

Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but  God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it  is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Genesis 50:19-21 NKJV

God does work in mysterious ways. This is much like when my wife and I lost a newborn son and ended up having a daughter shortly after. Would we have had a daughter if we had not lost our son? We were not planning on having another child at the time. God ended up turning a tragic event (losing our son), into a very good event in having a daughter. Losing our son was hurtful. But, our daughter brought us joy. God worked something evil into something good.