This is what will happen to those who trust in themselves and to their followers who believe them. Like sheep, they must die, and death will be their shepherd. Honest people will rule over them in the morning, and their bodies will rot in a grave far from home.
But God will save my life and will take me from the grave. (vs. 13-15)
I just read an article about a woman who took her own life with a drug overdose. She was a billionaire. Lived in the multimillion dollar mansion in which her dead body was found. With the ability to purchase her own happiness, she bought the best cocaine available. Probably in an effort to fill the aching void that is in everyone, rich or poor. The God-shaped vacuum fashioned by a Creator Who wants us to desire Him as much as He desires us.
Along with the article was one about a homeless man found dead in a park. Beneath some bleachers. It wasn't clear how he died, but it looked as though he had been coughing up blood. Perhaps drugs were involved. Probably not the purest of drugs. Maybe even the bad stuff. All the transient had left in the world was in a shopping cart nearby. Guessing it is now at the dump because his treasures would not necessarily be counted as someone's vast inheritance.
Both left it all behind. Lay down in death to take nothing with them. Shepherded away by the Grim Reaper to a grave from which they will not rise if they did not acknowledge Christ. It made my stomach knot this morning when I read these tandem articles. Addiction to anything is a sign of a deep need to be fulfilled. And rich or poor, that is a universal desire. The outcome of addictions makes evident the fact that whatever one has stuffed into her soul to fill the void doesn't fit. It is shaped for greater use. Higher purpose. There is no joy to me in thinking where these two might be now, without God, without hope.
I know the psalmist is most upset with the rich who lord their riches over others and use their wealth to oppress the poor. They will have their day, is the argument. If they trust only in themselves, they will have only themselves in the end. And it will not be enough. They cannot leave with all their riches and write a check to God to get out of hell at any cost. Nor can the self-righteous, whose checkbook is all the good they have done for the world, with or without a relationship with God, present a list of their good and humble deeds and expect entrance. Both are trusting in their own abilities to do what God has already done at great cost to Himself.
I watched in horror last week as a news story played itself out on television. A gray-haired man in a dark suit, clutching a briefcase was sitting at a table awaiting the decision from a jury concerning an arson fire that had destroyed his multi-million dollar home. He was a high-paid financier who lost much of his wealth in the crash of the banking industry. It seems he had burned his own home down to collect the insurance or to keep from paying further mortgage. Stripped of his income and his dignity, he sat awaiting the verdict.
"Guilty." We heard it read with him.
The man put his hands to his face, elbows resting on the defense table. But....it was clear he slipped something into his mouth as he did so. Moments later he took some Gatorade, I think, from his briefcase, lifted it to his lips and swallowed deeply. What was too heinous to show further on television was the rigorous seizures that followed momentarily, as his face turned red and the man collapsed onto the floor. He was dead. Before he got to the hospital. Judged himself guilty of the death penalty. Nothing left for which to live although he had children. Without the money which had defined him, he had committed arson and suicide.
There is nothing in this life that is sure. We cannot trust in another person and there is not enough money that it cannot be taken from us in an instant. All is evanescent. Nothing is permanent in this life. All of us will fall short and disappoint others. Even your own genius cannot be relied upon. We are created to live another way. It is not God's hope that He throw these people into the pit! He has made provision for everyone to come to him. The plan is, of course, brilliant, because it is complicated enough for us to search the Scriptures forever to understand the magnitude of its ramifications and design, but simple enough for a child to grasp. It doesn't take great riches to earn. The poorest are invited in.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes on (trusts in, relies on) Him may not be lost, but have eternal life. God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through Him. People who believe in God's Son are not judged guilty. Those who do not believe have already been judge guilty, because they have not believed in God's one and only Son. They are judged by this fact: The Light came into the world, but they did not want light. John 3:16-19 (italic mine)
But God will save my life and will take me from the grave. (vs. 13-15)
I just read an article about a woman who took her own life with a drug overdose. She was a billionaire. Lived in the multimillion dollar mansion in which her dead body was found. With the ability to purchase her own happiness, she bought the best cocaine available. Probably in an effort to fill the aching void that is in everyone, rich or poor. The God-shaped vacuum fashioned by a Creator Who wants us to desire Him as much as He desires us.
Along with the article was one about a homeless man found dead in a park. Beneath some bleachers. It wasn't clear how he died, but it looked as though he had been coughing up blood. Perhaps drugs were involved. Probably not the purest of drugs. Maybe even the bad stuff. All the transient had left in the world was in a shopping cart nearby. Guessing it is now at the dump because his treasures would not necessarily be counted as someone's vast inheritance.
Both left it all behind. Lay down in death to take nothing with them. Shepherded away by the Grim Reaper to a grave from which they will not rise if they did not acknowledge Christ. It made my stomach knot this morning when I read these tandem articles. Addiction to anything is a sign of a deep need to be fulfilled. And rich or poor, that is a universal desire. The outcome of addictions makes evident the fact that whatever one has stuffed into her soul to fill the void doesn't fit. It is shaped for greater use. Higher purpose. There is no joy to me in thinking where these two might be now, without God, without hope.
I know the psalmist is most upset with the rich who lord their riches over others and use their wealth to oppress the poor. They will have their day, is the argument. If they trust only in themselves, they will have only themselves in the end. And it will not be enough. They cannot leave with all their riches and write a check to God to get out of hell at any cost. Nor can the self-righteous, whose checkbook is all the good they have done for the world, with or without a relationship with God, present a list of their good and humble deeds and expect entrance. Both are trusting in their own abilities to do what God has already done at great cost to Himself.
I watched in horror last week as a news story played itself out on television. A gray-haired man in a dark suit, clutching a briefcase was sitting at a table awaiting the decision from a jury concerning an arson fire that had destroyed his multi-million dollar home. He was a high-paid financier who lost much of his wealth in the crash of the banking industry. It seems he had burned his own home down to collect the insurance or to keep from paying further mortgage. Stripped of his income and his dignity, he sat awaiting the verdict.
"Guilty." We heard it read with him.
The man put his hands to his face, elbows resting on the defense table. But....it was clear he slipped something into his mouth as he did so. Moments later he took some Gatorade, I think, from his briefcase, lifted it to his lips and swallowed deeply. What was too heinous to show further on television was the rigorous seizures that followed momentarily, as his face turned red and the man collapsed onto the floor. He was dead. Before he got to the hospital. Judged himself guilty of the death penalty. Nothing left for which to live although he had children. Without the money which had defined him, he had committed arson and suicide.
There is nothing in this life that is sure. We cannot trust in another person and there is not enough money that it cannot be taken from us in an instant. All is evanescent. Nothing is permanent in this life. All of us will fall short and disappoint others. Even your own genius cannot be relied upon. We are created to live another way. It is not God's hope that He throw these people into the pit! He has made provision for everyone to come to him. The plan is, of course, brilliant, because it is complicated enough for us to search the Scriptures forever to understand the magnitude of its ramifications and design, but simple enough for a child to grasp. It doesn't take great riches to earn. The poorest are invited in.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes on (trusts in, relies on) Him may not be lost, but have eternal life. God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through Him. People who believe in God's Son are not judged guilty. Those who do not believe have already been judge guilty, because they have not believed in God's one and only Son. They are judged by this fact: The Light came into the world, but they did not want light. John 3:16-19 (italic mine)
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