God's Our Refuge

Life is uncertain

That has been the theme for this year.

This year’s theme has been that life is unpredictable.

We do not know what is going to happen.

Just when you think you have the pattern right, things happen that shake it all up.

While this world has been complaining about the inconveniences of the coronavirus and the lockdown you have had real tragedy strike.

You as a family have experienced loss, hurt and pain.

This has already been a rough year for you.

You are already grieving.

Which is what brings us to today.

In these moments we must consider the unpredictability of life, and consider our own frailty.

There is something very sobering about seeing a person lying in a coffin.

Especially, someone that you love.

Someone who you knew as strong.

Next to me is someone who you have:

Grown up with.

Laughed with.

Gone to church with.

Sang with.

And now things are different.

With tears in our eyes, we must consider the shortness of life.

Psalm 39:4-5 says, “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! 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! Selah”

That Psalm is a prayer to know three things about your life:

To know what you are.

To know that there are a set number of days for life on the earth.

To know the value of those days.

First know what you are.

The Psalmist says, “O Lord, make me know my end ...”

When tragedy strikes, what makes life so hard?

It’s that you find out you are no longer in control.

You have your plans, and you have your goals, and you would do anything to achieve those plans.

Tragedy, conflict, loss, death, these do not fit into your plans.

That’s life starts spiraling out of control.

The Psalmist says, “make me know my end ...”

So let’s remember the natural order.

God is the one that created life.

Genesis 1 tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

We are a part of that creation.

God created humans.

He formed man out of the dust.

Then He breathed life into that dust, calling it man.

You are formed clay with borrowed breath.

Without breath of life, you’d be motionless.

We make plans, but our plans are beneath the plans of God.

The chaos that ensues after loss, is a reminder that you are not God.

There is only one God.

He is sovereign.

He makes plans.

And they are certain.

Knowing your end is a reminder that you are not God.

Therefore, we live at the mercy of God.

This causes us to align our will with God’s will.

We seek His will in life.

James 4:13-15 says, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.””

Knowing your end is a reminder that there is a God, and He has authority over your life.

He has authority to create and to judge.

And the standard that He judges by is His own goodness, His own perfection.

We don’t choose what is right and wrong, we don’t make this standard.

This is something that God makes.

He has revealed it to us in His law.

When you know your end, then you submit to His authority over your life.

You acknowledge that there is one God and you are not Him.

The Psalmist also prays that he would measure his days, or know that there are a set number of days for life on the earth.

We take life for granted.

A few days filled with youthfulness and energy can fool our subconscious into thinking that we can and will live forever.

It’s not until you are older that you realize:

That those days in hard labor destroyed your knees.

Or those cigarettes would planting cancer in your lungs.

Later on you look back and you see the damage of a rough life.

God has given you a body that is only temporary.

It is not meant for eternity.

Your body changes through life.

It grows.

It becomes stronger.

It grows achey.

And eventually it will die.

One of the wisest things you could is to consider your own mortality.

One day your life will end, one day your life will end.

And God will judge.

Hebrews 9:27 says, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,”

Every sin will be exposed to God and He will judge.

The consequence of sin is death, Hell.

Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death.

The thought of standing in front of God for sins should concern you, because none of us are perfect.

All of us have sinned.

Romans 3 says that “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

Think of your own life:

If you’ve ever lied, or stolen, you have sinned.

Jesus said that if you look at someone with lust, or call your brother fool in your heart, that God who judges the heart sees this as adultery and murder, even if not physically acted on.

The Christian has hope.

While we are condemned in our sins, Jesus did something amazing.

He was nailed to a cross.

And God placed the sins of His people on Jesus.

Jesus was then punished in our place.

This means that while sins called for death, Jesus died for us.

When you die, you don’t have to fear Hell, because Jesus died for sin.

Instead, it becomes a gateway, a transition to glory.

To a place where there is no suffering, pain, no cancer.

Funerals remind us of the shortness of life.

Yet, for those who have faith in Christ, who believe in Him, they don’t have to fear.

Instead, funerals become reminders of the hope that we have.

They become a reminder of eternal life.

And finally, the Psalmist reminds us to know the value of those days.

“Let me know how fleeting I am!”

Life is brief.

Years seem to fly by.

Solomon commented on the shortness of life by saying it is a vanity.

The Gospel brings value to your life.

If you are a Christian you are called a child of God, you become a part of the family of God.

He gives you a new heart.

He changes your desires from sin, to loving the Lord and obeying His law.

Proof that the Lord has changed your heart is that your love changes, your desires change, your actions change.

On a day like today, look at your life.

Do you see this change within you?

Have you seen the Lord change your heart?

If not, then don’t let today go to waste.

He brings value to your life by bringing purpose to it.

We are saved by grace, and we are saved to serve Him.

It frees us from slavery to sin, so service of God.