Psalms 49:7-13 ( ESV )
10 For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike
must perish and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their graves are their homes forever,£ their
dwelling places to all generations, though they called lands by their own
names.
13 This is the path of those who have foolish confidence; yet after
them people approve of their boasts.£Selah
Here I am sitting in
the basement of the house on Logan Street. Julie, Haddy and her family helped
move a lot of stuff over the last week and a half. If that was not enough we
had our Sunday school class come out and give us a huge hand on Thursday of
this week. Then to top it all off one of my old classmates Scott called and
encouraged my heart today. It has been a
good day.
I was deeply touched
and moved by Scott’s conversation with me as well as a few verses from Psalms
49 about the lost estate of man. We can have all the riches of this world and
all that it affords but without Jesus we are paupers in a fool’s paradise.
My heart still goes
out to the man who believes that he has all the time in the world to make his
choice for God or not. No one would be foolish to say that they will not die
out loud. Yet, by our actions we truly believe that we will live forever here
on this earth. Death is a fact of life but somehow we believe that we are not
part of that.
We begin to grow
prosperous and even according to verse 11 own land that we say is ours. Only to
one day see that we will pass and our lands will become the temporal wealth of
others. I believe that we do this because we are a proud people who get caught
up with the idea of our importance. We are rich, and yet like John would later
on say to the church, “Know ye, not that you are poor, wretched and blind?”
David says that. “Our
pomp will not remain and just like those before us and the beast of the field
we will one day perish.” It is a foolish confidence that breathes within our
very being as we act as if we will live forever. People may even applaud us or
hand out rewards for our achievements but the applause of men will soon fade
away.
Then what breaks the
Lord’s heart even more is the foolishness of a man who thinks that he can
ransom his own soul. We make our laundry list on how we can ransom our own
soul. We gave to charities, went to church, were baptized, and kept the Ten
Commandments even though I can only tell you a few of them. We bargain with God
and try to achieve heaven by being good enough for the creator who gave us
everything.
The psalmist though
wisely advices us that all of these things that we do will never ransom our own
soul. We cannot save others let alone ourselves and become a ransom for many. “What
good is it if a man gains the whole world and yet loses his own soul?” We will
all one day come face to face with death and meet our God. Our lives are truly
a vapor that passes away. If you are like me it sounds so hopeless and meaningless
until I look at the same Psalm and see the hope of the Gospel in verse 15.
Psalms 49:15 ( ESV )
Once again one of my
favorite words in the entire Bible is the first word in this verse. “BUT” There
is hope but my salvation is not based on what I do but what God has done for
me. I cannot redeem my soul BUT God can. I have hope in the only one who could
redeem fallen man and that is Jesus.
Jesus has come as the
Lamb of God and He has paid the ransom for our soul. Not only do I not have to
face an eternity in Hell but He will receive me. Why? Simply put because of His
grace. The debt of my sin was placed upon the cross by the only one who could
ransom me. He who was not simply a man but rather God in flesh was willing to
pay the price for me and not only for me but for the sins of the whole world. Hallelujah,
what a savior.
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