Psalm 39:4 (NKJV)
Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.
A legend tells about a Baghdad merchant who asked his servant to run an errand. While at the marketplace, the servant rounded a corner and came face to face with Lady Death. He was so frightened that he ran back to tell his master. “I’m terrified,” he said. “I want to take the fastest horse and ride toward Samarra.” The master granted the request. Later that day, the merchant himself went to the marketplace and he, too, saw Lady Death. “Why did you startle my servant?” he confronted her. Lady Death replied, “Frankly, it was I who was startled. I couldn’t understand why your servant was in Baghdad, because I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”
Are you afraid of death? Recently, I was laying down to sleep for the night when I was consumed with thoughts of my own death. I wish I could tell you that I was totally at peace with the prospect, but the truth is there was a lot of uneasiness in my mind and spirit. I wondered how our four children would be doing. I figured how old they would be if I lived to 91, the age when my dad went to be with the Lord. It was a sobering exercise. Where would they be living and what would they be doing? Would they be walking with the Lord? Would they all be married and have children? What about my wife? Would we be able to enjoy our “golden years” together in relatively good health? What kind of tragedies might we have to face together? Finally, my thoughts turned to the hope that I have in Jesus, and like the man who wondered aloud if Jesus could heal his demon-possessed son, I prayed, “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!” (Mk. 9:24)
Should the Lord tarry in his return, a natural death will come to us all. David was enduring some serious correction at the hands of the Lord when he wrote this psalm and he desperately wanted it to end (v. 10), yet he placed all of his hope in the Lord (v. 7). David asked for a correct perspective so that he could live accordingly. James reflects this reality when he reminds us that our lives are like a vapor that appear for a brief time and then disappear (Jas. 4:14). David’s son, Solomon, wasted most of his life in pursuit of worldly and therefore temporary things. He gained much, but none of it would last into eternity. He enjoyed most of the good things available to us on this earth, and also tasted much of the bad, but did not couple that with an eternal perspective. In the end it left him frustrated and unfulfilled…a “chasing after the wind” kind of life (Ecc. 1:14).
Do you feel like you are chasing after the wind? Are you striving to climb the ladder of success but not questioning if you have that ladder leaning on the right building? Perhaps you need to take a lesson from David’s psalm and ask the Lord to properly orient your perspective. Time is short and eternity is long, so the first order of business is to be in right relationship with God through complete faith in His Son. After that, striving to love God as well as your neighbor (and yourself) in all that you think, say, and do. Enjoy the days the Lord has given you – especially with your family – and give much of yourself away to others, as Christ did for you.
As the character Maximus said in the movie, The Gladiator, “What you do in life…echoes in eternity!” David was a man after God’s own heart and his love of the Lord is still echoing loud and clear today. What kind of echoes are you and I creating? What kind of memories are we forging? What kind of rewards can we look forward to when that last day arrives?
