Fleeting Lives, Eternal Love

Scripture 

 Psalm 103:8-18

 ⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ He will not always accuse,
    nor will he keep his anger forever.
¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as the heavens are high above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
    so far he removes our transgressions from us.

¹³  As a father has compassion for his children,
          so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him.
¹⁴  For he knows how we were made;
          he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵  As for mortals, their days are like grass;
          they flourish like a flower of the field;
¹⁶  for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
          and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷  But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
          on those who fear him,
          and his righteousness to children’s children,
¹⁸  to those who keep his covenant
          and remember to do his commandments.  (NRSV)

Devotion 

Today's world moves at a fast pace...so fast that when my father asks me what I think about the latest news event, I often have to stop and ask him what it is.  It should come as little surprise that most of what he's talking about is upsetting.  Disease.  Violence.  Injustice.  Natural and Man-made Disasters.  Death.  And my personal favorite of 2020: the now mostly-forgotten murder hornet.  It all feels like too much to even keep up with, much less overcome.  After a while, it can lead us to think about how fleeting life is.  To borrow from Kurt Vonnegut, "so it goes."

The psalmist certainly understood how fleeting human life can be.  Life in the ancient world was hard...so hard that the psalmist compares people to the flowers that bloom in that arid land: flourishing one moment but gone and forgotten the next.   All too soon, we return to the dust from which we were formed.  Human life can seem as transitory as the breeze.

The psalmist's reflections seem sad and pessimistic at first glance.  In actuality, they reflect a deep and abiding faith in God.  Human life may be fleeting, but so are all the fears, troubles, and sins that we threaten to consume us.  In contrast, God's love for us is steadfast and eternal. Like a faithful gardener that tenderly cares for each fleeting flower that springs up in her garden, God will take care of us from our first cry to our dying breathe.  Because God is ever-gracious and ever-merciful to God's children, we can trust that God will continue to love and care for us in whatever awaits us beyond this mortal life.  

The psalmist's words can bring us comfort in those moments when life seems to be just one crisis after another.  Yes, it can all feel like too much.  Yes, we may be wracked with guilt for our sins or overwhelmed by the trials we face.  We may even feel grief-stricken or fearful.  The Good News is that just our bodies shall eventually turn to dust, so will the things that ail us;but the peace, love, and forgiveness we find in the Holy One will last forever.  This knowledge can give us the hope and courage we need to keep following God's commandments...to do our best to what is right and good in the eyes of the LORD and repent of the mistakes we make along the way.   

When I quote Kurt Vonnegut and say "so it goes," I do not do so with a sense of defeatism.  Instead, I say it to remind myself that no matter what the world throws at our frail bodies, nothing can defeat us.  God's love is steadfast, and God's purpose for us is good.  Because God is here to hold and care for us in our distress.  And so, let us keep hold of our faith, even when the slings and arrows of life seem to come to quickly for us to keep up with.   The challenges we face as part of human existence are real...but they are also transitory....just as these earthly bodies are transitory.  Through God's grace, there will come a day when we bid farewell to all that is fleeting and embrace what is eternal.  God promises that what awaits us will be good.

Prayer

Loving and Steadfast Father, when we fear being overcome by the challenges of this fleeting life, help us trust in your eternal care.  May our hope ever be in you so that we may continue to rejoice in the covenant you have made in us and spread the Good News of your love...in thought, in word, and in deed.  Amen.