The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Psalm 78:39,
"He [the Lord] remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return."
"He [the Lord] remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return."
As Asaph recounts the "praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done", verse 4, he tells of how the Lord blessed his people. But following his blessing, his people would wander from him, turn their backs on him and so the Lord would judge Israel. After their suffering the Lord's judgment, the people would cry out and return to the Lord and the Lord would bless them again. "Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again," Verse 34. It became a cycle in the history of Israel. As Asaph puts it, at the point in the cycle where Israel would cry out to the Lord in their suffering his judgment, the Lord would be merciful, forgive their iniquities, restrain his anger and not "stir up his full wrath," Verse 38. This is because the Lord "remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return."
It is a fascinating dynamic to follow in the history of Israel. What captures my thoughts this morning, however, runs a bit afield of Asaph's observations, but one he points to. In this life we are "but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return". We are here in this life in a very temporary way. All of the folks involved with the historical account of the nation of Israel have been long gone, but the Lord is very much still here. Each successive generation passes away but the Lord remains very much still here. He is eternal, he is ever existent, we are but temporary in this life. We all soon pass from this life.
This is in stark contrast to what comes to us in the resurrection. Paul tells us that all those who are his will be raised, 1 Corinthians 15:23. In the resurrection we will not be just a "passing breeze that does not return." In 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 we read, "The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable: it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." Later we read, "I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'" 1 Corinthians 15:50-54.
Here there is permanence! Here there is life that will never end! Here there is opportunity for our lives to continue to build for an eternity! Here is what God has purposed for us in his making of us!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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