Psalm 89:47-48 Remember how short my time is: why have you made all men in vain?… God makes no man "in vain," but he may choose to live in vain. He may turn his existence in this world to utter vanity and waste. 1. The true value of our life lies in its spiritual significance; and we save it from being vain and worthless only as we connect it with the spiritual and the eternal. We are accustomed to say that life is long or short, according as it is crowded with incidents and experiences, or is deficient in them. An eventful life is a long life. Some men live more in one year than others do in many. But then, what is the quality of the experience? Your life outwardly may be eventful enough, but inwardly it may be strangely destitute of all that is fitted to give it a distinctive and a noble character. 2. The value of our life lies in the nature of the work that has been given us to do in it; and we save it from being "vain" only by earnest and diligent attention to that work. It demands the cultivation in ourselves of the affections and energies of the life of God, and the diffusion of such an influence and the doing of such deeds as shall be for the enduring benefit and blessing of the world in which He has placed us. (Joseph Waite, M.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?WEB: Remember how short my time is! For what vanity have you created all the children of men! |
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