Psalm 144:3-4
3 O LORD, what are human beings that you should notice them, mere mortals that you should think about them?4 For they are like a breath of air; their days are like a passing shadow.
Psalm 144 http://www.youversion.com/bible/nlt/ps/144/3-4
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The impact of this passage depends to some extent on your theology. Simply,
The impact of this passage depends to some extent on your theology. Simply,
Do you correctly understand who and what God is?
God is eternal! That is, God has always been and will always be. God is above and outside of time and space. He can enter time and space as we know but unlike us God exists equally beyond past, present, and future.
God is life. All that is life comes from God and is sustained by God. There is no life without God. God is described with some accuracy by three uncommon words, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience.
We say God is omnipotent and by that we mean God has all power. No person, being, or circumstance is beyond the power of God. God or particular members of the God head (Father, Son, or Holy Spirit) do at times choose to work within certain relationships and rules that voluntarily appear to limit his power.
God is everywhere. That is not to say that everything is a God. That is to say that you can be nowhere in heaven or earth that God is absent. You can not escape the presence of God. God's presence is experienced by his grace in greater or lesser ways. But be assured God is there. Rejoice when you are blessed with a greater sense of his presence or if and when he chooses to display his presence in a more physical way. The fact that we know God is everywhere is described as God's omnipresence.
Lastly, God knows everything! Not only is God everywhere but he is aware of everything all at once. Not only all that can be observed by us but in every sense. God knows the thoughts and intents of every heart. All movements and motives of all things are within his knowledge. God not only knows the fact but he also understands everything. God is all wise. His knowledge exists perfectly within his perfect wisdom.
We say sometimes that God is other. What we mean by this is that God is beyond us. Unlike us. God is perfect. He is so different from us as to invoke the Psalmist to say, "O LORD, what are human beings that you should notice them.." Do you regard God as awesome? For he is! Do you think sometimes that you know better than God how to rule this world, run the show, fix the situation, treat the just or unjust? You do not know better than God!
God has done no wrong and you have. He saw you. He knows your heart. He was there. So it is even more compelling to read the last verse of this
Psalm, "15 Yes, joyful are those who live like this!
Psalm, "15 Yes, joyful are those who live like this!
Joyful indeed are those whose God is the LORD." So this verse says you will have a joy in life if you live like you understand that God is in charge! The verse says, God is the Lord! By all definitions God is indeed the Lord. But do you live as if God is the Lord? Do you see him as the source of all life? Your judge and provider. Do you humble yourself and respond like verses 3 and 4 with a humility of recognition that God is greater and God is good? Isn't this all the more amazing when you then read that God becomes a babe and comes to live and die among us? How much greater is the overwhelming "otherness" of God when you grasp he entered into this world as a man. Lived as a helpless child. Suffered humiliation. And he did all this to rescue a rebellious people. Who are you that GOD would have done that for you?
Psalm 144
A psalm of David.
1 Praise the LORD, who is my rock.
He trains my hands for war
and gives my fingers skill for battle.2 He is my loving ally and my fortress,
my tower of safety, my rescuer.
He is my shield, and I take refuge in him.
He makes the nations submit to me.3 O LORD, what are human beings that you should notice them,
mere mortals that you should think about them?4 For they are like a breath of air;
their days are like a passing shadow.5 Open the heavens, LORD, and come down.
Touch the mountains so they billow smoke.6 Hurl your lightning bolts and scatter your enemies!
Shoot your arrows and confuse them!7 Reach down from heaven and rescue me;
rescue me from deep waters,
from the power of my enemies.8 Their mouths are full of lies;
they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.9 I will sing a new song to you, O God!
I will sing your praises with a ten-stringed harp.10 For you grant victory to kings!
You rescued your servant David from the fatal sword.11 Save me!
Rescue me from the power of my enemies.
Their mouths are full of lies;
they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.12 May our sons flourish in their youth
like well-nurtured plants.
May our daughters be like graceful pillars,
carved to beautify a palace.13 May our barns be filled
with crops of every kind.
May the flocks in our fields multiply by the thousands,
even tens of thousands,14 and may our oxen be loaded down with produce.
May there be no enemy breaking through our walls,
no going into captivity,
no cries of alarm in our town squares.15 Yes, joyful are those who live like this!
Joyful indeed are those whose God is the LORD.
A psalm of David.1 Praise the LORD, who is my rock.
He trains my hands for war
and gives my fingers skill for battle.2 He is my loving ally and my fortress,
my tower of safety, my rescuer.
He is my shield, and I take refuge in him.
He makes the nations submit to me.3 O LORD, what are human beings that you should notice them,
mere mortals that you should think about them?4 For they are like a breath of air;
their days are like a passing shadow.5 Open the heavens, LORD, and come down.
Touch the mountains so they billow smoke.6 Hurl your lightning bolts and scatter your enemies!
Shoot your arrows and confuse them!7 Reach down from heaven and rescue me;
rescue me from deep waters,
from the power of my enemies.8 Their mouths are full of lies;
they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.9 I will sing a new song to you, O God!
I will sing your praises with a ten-stringed harp.10 For you grant victory to kings!
You rescued your servant David from the fatal sword.11 Save me!
Rescue me from the power of my enemies.
Their mouths are full of lies;
they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.12 May our sons flourish in their youth
like well-nurtured plants.
May our daughters be like graceful pillars,
carved to beautify a palace.13 May our barns be filled
with crops of every kind.
May the flocks in our fields multiply by the thousands,
even tens of thousands,14 and may our oxen be loaded down with produce.
May there be no enemy breaking through our walls,
no going into captivity,
no cries of alarm in our town squares.15 Yes, joyful are those who live like this!
Joyful indeed are those whose God is the LORD.
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