Psalm 102:23, 24 He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.… All love life, and desire to have it prolonged. But the psalmist does not ask for its renewal on merely personal grounds. He pleads that he is so sure God's restoring mercies are just at hand; and, if he could see them realized, he could die in peace. Compare Simeon's song as he held the Babe-Saviour. Death coming when a man is in the very midst of life's work is the most trying of human experiences. We always feel intensely sorry for Moses, though he was so aged, because he must leave his life work incomplete. See the intense distress of Hezekiah, because his "purposes were broken off." This was the special bitterness of his grief: "I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living." So with this psalmist of the Exile. He shrank from dying just at the time when he was expecting that manifestation of the Divine power for which he had been so long hoping and waiting. To die on this side of our promised land is always hard work. Death is dreaded in the midst of (1) manhood; (2) prosperity; (3) responsibility; (4) spiritual growth; (5) Christian work, etc. I. THE MISSION OF DEATH IN THE MIDST OF LIFE TO HIM WHO DIES. Show how supreme a moral test it may be. It tries a man's submission. It reveals incompleteness of culture. It shows what an undue hold the world may have gained on a man. It puts him on proving the power of prayer. It humbles him by showing that he is not so essential to the well being of humanity as he had thought. Sickness, imperilling life, coming to a man in the midst of his days, often proves to be a most humbling and sanctifying experience. II. THE MISSION OF DEATH IN THE MIDST OF LIFE TO THOSE WHO HAVE TO LIVE ON. Nothing so effectively convinces of the uncertainty of life. Nothing better pleads for the faithful doing of the duty of every hour. Nothing more effectively convinces that no man is necessary to God's work in the world. It teaches us that as our life-work may be "rounded off" at any moment, it should always be ready for "rounding off." The imperilled may pray for renewed life and lengthened days, but not in any unconditional way, since length of life is no supreme and necessary good. Such prayer must wait on the holy will. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.WEB: He weakened my strength along the course. He shortened my days. |
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