Psalm 39
4 “O LORD, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!
5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!
Selah
6 Surely a man goes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!
7 “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in you.
In 2020 we have been confronted with the temporality of many things. Plans we made and things we put our hope in slipped through our hands and out of our control as we were ushered indoors and online, distant from the sense of normalcy that held our lives in balance. As we were left physically alone we were forced to discard the schedules we built for ourselves and confront the reality that the dreams we held on to and structures that shaped our lives were like vapor, gone before recognition. We unknowingly began an undefined waiting period as we began to anticipate change, reopening, and healing.
Sorry to get existential!! But this year has reminded me again and again, that, like my grades, plans, or goals, my time on earth is fleeting. In Psalm 39 the author prays earnestly to God, asking God to bring light to the brevity of his life and give him comfort in his morality. The author acknowledges that his lifetime can be reduced to a speck in the scope of God’s vastness and speaks to man’s foolishness in fixating on Earthly things. But immediately after asking “o Lord, for what do I wait?” the psalmist states “my hope is in you.”
If you are also taking part in the Earthly human experience, you have probably prayed a similar prayer during shelter in place, asking God “when?” or “how?” the multiple levels of suffering 2020 has witnessed will be brought to an end. But we ought to acknowledge that we wait not for the dissolution or resolution of things on earth, but with urgency for the hope in things above.
We can wait well because we await a life that is infinite, perfect, and not yet.
“Everyday there are things to grieve, and lament, and protest, and fight against, and there are things to celebrate, and give thanks for, and receive with an open heart” John Mark Comer reminds us in the devotional this Monday Musing was based on. The Giver of Life gives us good things daily, we only need to pay attention. The fact that you woke up today and got to experience the trials and miracles that come with a new day attests to the power and kindness of God. Another day on Earth with the people you love is an answered prayer in and of itself, and a chance to seek God and His kingdom.
Ecclesiastes, perhaps one of the most emo books of the Bible reminds us “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (see specifically: “A time to embrace, a time to refrain from embracing” Ecclesiastes 3:5!!). On what would later be known as my last day in France, I happened to read this verse. As I continued to read, it became apparent that this book offered new insight for the “unprecedented time” that was before me. The same passage notes that there is also a time for casting away stones, loss, death, war, mourning, etc. Yet we are also promised a time when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4). We can have a posture of anticipation and hope, because there is a place where life is not fleeting.
The Chronicles of Narnia series concludes with the following paragraph, a realization of the wonder that awaits us in heaven (spoiler alert I suppose):
“All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
This is why we can wait well, knowing that everyday there are mere hints of heaven compared to the full breadth of the glory and joy we will feel being in the full presence of God. Peace be with you, wherever you are, as we learn to wait well together.
*& if you’re having an existential crisis, hit me up, read Ecclesiastes, or try to remember that with the clearing of hevel (vapor) brings forth clarity from God