Psalms – Prayers of honesty
It doesn’t get any plainer than our next prayer of honesty and realism. “Like our dogs, we age and weaken. and die.” Okay, then, tell us how you really feel! Right? But it is true. Life here is only for a little while, a brief journey on God’s created earth. Some of us prepare for our forever home with God for eternity because of the receiving God’s gift of salvation brought to us by Jesus Christ His Son. But most of us will only be impressed with obtaining all the riches and power they can get now and be dumbfounded later with what they cannot take with them when they die. Their death is eternal.“They can’t take it with them; fame and fortune all get left behind. Just when they think they’ve arrive and folks praise them because they’ve made good, they enter the family burial plot where they’ll never see sunshine again. We aren’t immortal. We don’t last long.”
Where do you stand?
“But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death, He reaches down and grabs me.”
I am reminded of the time Jesus first “grabbed” me. I am singing a new song in the background of reading and understanding this “from the gut” prayer psalm.
Here is a modern day version of Psalm 49…
Reckless Love
Cory Asbury
Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me
You have been so, so good to me
Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me
You have been so, so kind to me
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God,
When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me
You have been so, so good to me
When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me
You have been so, so kind to me
And oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
And I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God,
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
And I couldn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God,
(Songwriters: Caleb Culver / Cory Asbury / Ran Jackson)
Psalm 49, The Message
A Psalm of the Sons of Korah
1-2 Listen, everyone, listen—
earth-dwellers, don’t miss this.
All you haves
and have-nots,
All together now: listen.
3-4 I set plainspoken wisdom before you,
my heart-seasoned understandings of life.
I fine-tuned my ear to the sayings of the wise,
I solve life’s riddle with the help of a harp.
5-6 So why should I fear in bad times,
hemmed in by enemy malice,
Shoved around by bullies,
demeaned by the arrogant rich?
7-9 Really! There’s no such thing as self-rescue,
pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
The cost of rescue is beyond our means,
and even then it doesn’t guarantee
Life forever, or insurance
against the Black Hole.
10-11 Anyone can see that the brightest and best die,
wiped out right along with fools and dunces.
They leave all their prowess behind,
move into their new home, The Coffin,
The cemetery their permanent address.
And to think they named counties after themselves!
12 We aren’t immortal. We don’t last long.
Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.
13-15 This is what happens to those who live for the moment,
who only look out for themselves:
Death herds them like sheep straight to hell;
they disappear down the gullet of the grave;
They waste away to nothing—
nothing left but a marker in a cemetery.
But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death,
he reaches down and grabs me.
16-19 So don’t be impressed with those who get rich
and pile up fame and fortune.
They can’t take it with them;
fame and fortune all get left behind.
Just when they think they’ve arrived
and folks praise them because they’ve made good,
They enter the family burial plot
where they’ll never see sunshine again.
20 We aren’t immortal. We don’t last long.
Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.
SOMETHING TO CHEW…
The psalmist had a message for everybody in the world, the important people and the nobodies, the rich and the poor (vv. 1-2). The word world is the translation of an unusual Hebrew word that means “the total human scene, the whole sphere of passing life,” not unlike “world” in 1 John 2:15-17.
The writer spoke from his heart (v. 3; see 45:1) the wisdom and understanding that the Lord gave him, and he dealt with an enigma that only the Lord could explain (v. 4). The enigma was life itself and its puzzling relationship to the distribution of wealth and the power that wealth brings.
How should believers respond when they see the rich get richer? Should they be afraid that the wealthy will abuse the poor? Should they be impressed by the wealth that others possess and seek to imitate them? The writer gives us three reminders to help us keep our perspective in a world obsessed with wealth and the power it brings.
1. Wealth Cannot Prevent Death (vv. 5-12).
2. Wealth Will Not Determine Your Destiny (vv. 13-15).
3. Wealth Must Not Increase Your Desires (vv. 16-20).
HEART CHECK:For the believer, death is only a valley of temporary shadows, and Jesus is the Shepherd (23:4). There is coming a “morning” when the dead in Christ will be raised and share the glory of the Lord (1 Thess. 4:13-18; see Ps. 16:10-11; Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2-3).
We can’t ransom someone who is about to die (vv. 7-8), but the Lord has already ransomed us from sin and the power of the grave (v. 15; 1 Cor. 15:20ff.). When we die, God will receive us to Himself (73:24; 2 Cor. 5:1-8; Gen. 5:24), and when Jesus returns, He will raise our bodies from the grave. Decision for Christ, not the possession of great wealth, determines our eternal destiny.
“Listen, everyone, listen–earth-dwellers, don’t miss this.” We have two choices. Choose well. It’s a matter of life or death. For eternity.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for snatching me from the clutch of death eternal to life with you forever! Thank you Jesus for paying the debt of my sin as well as the sins of the world. Thank you for reaching down. Thank you for your “reckless”, unconditional, forever love for us. Your love is unstoppable, limitless and most times, hard to wrap our human minds around the depth of it. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have encouraged me this morning.
In Jesus Name, Amen. I believe.
