Brevity: reflections on the 39th Psalm

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

Psalm 39:5

What is the measure of my days?

It is fleeting.

…small enough to hold in my hands.

…nothing in comparison to You, Eternal One!

All human history is a short exhale and is gone.

What is the impact of my life?

This shadow of a man

only seen by Your light,

will one day simply fade

with only Your glory in sight,

…remembered no more.

What is the reason for my work?

…toiling in turmoil

…heaping up worldstuff

like mounds of sand.

But someone else will receive it at shadow’s fade.

What now should I wait for from my God?

…deliverance from transgression

…silence from the enemies He has shut up

…answered prayer from a God Who hears

I am a sojourner, a guest on this planet, in brevity, destined for eternity.