Psalm 39 | Urgency

New sermon series: Eternal Perspective: Investing with the End in Mind

Church hype: You don’t want to miss this message.

Three significant events in my life that led to this message:

My mom passed away in 2007 (cancer). She was 42

My friend from Willmar passed away this summer (car crash). He was 42

Last Monday was my birthday. Guess how old I turned? You guessed it right. I turned 42.

Message title: Urgency

Distracted

Possessions

Review and Rewards

Let’s take a look at today’s message, Urgency.

In Psalm 90:10, The Bible declares, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty.”

You don’t have to be a Christian to observe that the the life expectancy for humans is around 70-80 years old. (Many people make it to 100 and beyond. The world’s oldest person died at 117 last August).

Here’s why this message Urgency is so urgent: our time here on earth is very short. Personally, I don’t know how much time I have left to live. Even if the Lord were to grant me to live up to 100 years, I know it’s going to go by very fast and it’s not much time in light of eternity.

Please open your Bibles with me today to Psalm 39. In three verses, King David reflects on the brevity of life and the insignificance of human pursuits in light of eternity.

Psalm 39:4–6 “4 “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! 5 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! 6 Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!”

Pray

Lord, I plead that you would grant us Eternal Perspective.

Bring conviction to live a life that brings you glory by investing in that which last forever.

My message today is very simple and it’s also very weighty.

Life is short. Eternity is long. Don’t waste your life.

Using Psalm 39:4-6, Let’s take closer look at each of those sentences.

1. Life is Short

In Psalm 39 David is going through a time of personal suffering and intense emotional struggle which became unbearable. So in v.4 David prays for divine perspective:

“O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!”

When David asks God to “know” how short his life is, he is not asking for new knowledge or information. What David is asking is to understand deep in his heart that the number of days he has left on earth are not many and that they will go by very fast.

Phrases we use to express this reality:

Times flies

Where did the time go?

Seems like just yesterday

Here’s a crazy fact: 1981 and 2024 are far apart as 1981 and 1938 (WWII, 1939-1945)

It’s interesting that David writes about, “the measure of my days” rather than “the measure of my years.” Using “days” gives it a sense of urgency as he becomes aware of his own mortality.

Like David, Moses also asks God for something similar:

Psalm 90:12 “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

I came across the following quote:

“So teach us to number our days,” etc. Said a thoughtful man: “I have but one life to live; if I invest it unworthily my regret will be as long as eternity.”

When we become regularly aware that our days on earth are short, we begin to focus and invest on what truly matters.

James 4:14 “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

A hospice chaplain met with the pastors in Morris. She said, “Pastors, you are doing a poor job at preparing your people for death.” She went on to say that as a culture, we avoid talking about death. She pointed out that at one point in our culture our language begin to switch from calling it a “funeral” to a “celebration of life.” We don’t want to talk about death.

Latinos do something similar, except we joke about it about death.

Psalm 89:47–48 “47 Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man! 48 What man can live and never see death?”

Every one of us will experience death sooner or later. You and I would do well to pray like David, “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!”

Life is short!

2. Eternity is Long

David continues praying in v.5, “Behold, you have made my days a few hand-breadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you.

Notice the contrast David makes between our short days on earth compared to God’s endless days. From an eternal perspective our days are like nothing compared to eternity.

David says that our days on earth are compared to a few handbreadths.

What is a hand-breadth? It was a common way to measure back in Bible times.

HANDBREADTH — a linear measurement based on the width of the palm, four fingers closely pressed together. (Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary)

Our short days on earth compared to eternity is like:

A drop of water in the ocean.

A spark from a campfire compared to the sun.

Do you think about eternity? It’s hard to explain eternity when we currently don’t experience eternity. Trying to explain eternity is like trying to explain a Minnesota winter to my relatives in the coastal town of Puerto Escondido where it’s summer all year long.

Rope Illustration

3. Don’t Waste Your Life!

The second half of v5 begins with the word “surely.” V.6 also uses the word “surely” 2x.

This is David’s way of saying, I’m not the only know who experiences this. Listen to it:

Psalm 39:5–6

Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!

Surely a man goes about as a shadow!

Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!”

In the OT, there is a Hebrew word that is hard to translate: hevel.

Hevel literally means “breath or vapor.” Like breath on a cold morning,

It appears three times in Psalm 39.

V.5, Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!

V.6, Surely for nothing they are in turmoil.

V.11, Surely all mankind is mere breath!

Hevel describes that is which transitory, fleeting, temporary, passing, non-lasting.

David describes an individual who is so focused on the wrong thing: building wealth that he cannot take with him. He must leave all that wealth behind.

Brothers and sisters, Life is short. Eternity is long. Don’t waste your life!

Illustration: In my bedroom I have a set of pictures frames:

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last. (C.T. Studd)

These words serve as a reminder to not live for myself, but for the kingdom.

On May 20, 2000, Passion OneDay takes place in Memphis in a large field.

A preacher in his mid-fifties goes up to the pulpit to preach before 40,0000 college students.

He take a deep breath and prays as he addresses his sense of inadequacy.

The preacher’s name is John Piper.

He takes another another deep breath and begins addressing the college students with these words:

“You don’t have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world. But you do have to know the few great things that matter, and then be willing to live for them and die for them. The people that make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by a few great things.

If you want your life to count, if you want the ripple effect of the pebbles you drop to become waves that reach the ends of the earth and roll on for centuries and into eternity, you don’t have to have a high IQ or EQ; you don’t have to have to have good looks or riches; you don’t have to come from a fine family or a fine school. You have to know a few great, majestic, unchanging, obvious, simple, glorious things, and be set on fire by them.”

He proceeded to talk about the tragedy of a wasted life. He shared two stories:

“Three weeks ago we got word at our church that Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards had both been killed in Cameroon,” he began. “Ruby was over eighty. Single all her life, she poured it out for one great thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing eighty years old, and serving at Ruby’s side in Cameroon. The brakes failed, the car went over the cliff, and they were both killed instantly. And I asked my people: Was that a tragedy?”

Students responded, “No!”

“No,” the preacher echoed. That is a glory. I’ll tell you what a tragedy is.”

He then pulled out a page from Reader’s Digest and read,

“Bob and Penny took . . . early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball, and collect shells.”

He continued:

“The American Dream: come to the end of your life—your one and only life—and let the last great work before you give an account to your Creator be, ‘I collected shells. See my shells.’ That is a tragedy. People today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. And I get forty minutes to plead with you: don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life.”

Life is short. Eternity is long. Don’t waste your life!

Conclusion: Investing your time and resources in light of eternity involves prioritizing actions and commitments that have lasting spiritual significance. Here are some practical ways to do so:

Invest in your relationship with Jesus: Bible reading & prayer each day.

Invest in your relationship with other believers: Sunday mornings & Wednesday Connect.

Invest time in family discipleship: Bible reading & praying (devotionals).

Invest in your local church: support financially and give your time generously.

Invest in God’s global work by praying for missionaries or going on a short term missions trip.