Daily Devotional For Tuesday, May 12, 2026
Good day and good morning Southside! I have chosen for our reading today a continuation from the One Year Chronological Bible Reading from May 11. I know today is May 12, but David’s inspiration from the Lord is worth our time. Look at what he wrote in Psalm 39:4-7:
“LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is. (5) You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to You; at best, each of us is but a breath. (6) We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it. (7) And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in You” (NLT).
David knows life is short in comparison to the eternal nature of God. He has seen men die in battle and he personally has caused many men to die in battle. He helped bury the bodies of Saul and Jonathan, his son (David’s best friend). When we compare our own lives since the time of Jesus, we get a moment here and that is all. In this psalm, David knows his life is fleeting. He is old and there is not much time left, but what he wants to know in a deeper way is the nature of human life before he departs.
In other words, there is a difference between “knowing” and “knowing.” For example, many people come out of college and get a job. They know that one day they will retire but at the moment, they do not plan for it even though they know it. This means they know but they really do not know until in their mid years it hits they have nothing for retirement and they quickly kick into overdrive to make up for the years they did not set something aside.
One of the great things about being around an older, godly person is they do not sweat the small stuff at all. They believe with all their heart God is sovereign and in control. They have learned not to get so worked up in their senior years as they did in their 20s and 30s. Now, they have a perspective they did not have in their 20s & 30s. They have what the Bible calls godly wisdom and trust in the Lord.
In Isaiah 38, King Hezekiah is very sick and close to death. The prophet Isaiah came to him and said, “Get your house in order. The day of your death is at hand” (my paraphrase). The Bible records that he turned his face and prayed to God to give him more time. God heard his prayer and through the prophet Isaiah told him he had 15 more years to live (Isaiah 38:5). Now let’s put this in perspective. Right there, the clock on his life started ticking down. This means he knew the year of his death. I have often wondered if this was more stressful to him “watching the calendar and clock” than just dying.
I used to live in California and out there they have trees called Sequoias in the Sequoia National Forest. The oldest of these trees are over 3,500 years old. They reach a height of 280 feet. The average branch has a diameter of 12.8 feet. If you ever go there as a tourist, what people do is take a selfie in front of these trees. As they look at them, they see they are a shrimp in comparison to these humongous trees. You take the tallest person on the planet and have them lay down in front of it, they are a shrimp in comparison as well. Perspective: some of these Sequoia trees were already 500 years old when David wrote Psalm 39.
When we read the early chapters of Genesis and read how long people lived, it astounds us. The Bible records that Methuselah lived to be 969 years old before dying (Gen. 5:27). Can you imagine being on Social Security for nearly 900 years? If we do our calculations correctly, some Old Testament scholars think that Methuselah died the year of the flood. At least God spared him of that since only Noah and his family trusted God and were allowed to enter the Ark.
David brings himself some perspective about life to himself and for us. He reminds himself and us just how really short our lives are. David wrote this in Psalm 39:6, We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth,not knowing who will spend it” (NLT). Why is this so important what David writes here?
In comparison to eternity, in comparison to the lifespan of the great Sequoias, our lives are brief. We can almost hear the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:2, “‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher, ‘’Vanity of vanities! All is vanity’” (NASB). The Hebrew word translated as “vanity” is [הֶבֶל, hevel]. This word means “futility, futilities.” In other words, “Futility of futilities. All is futile”
Very positive and encouraging isn’t it? Some translate this as “meaningless.” David uses the same word three times in Psalm 39 where it is translated as ‘breath” [הֶבֶל, hevel] in verses 5 & 11 and “for nothing [הֶבֶל, hevel]” in verse 6. When former atheist and now Christian apologist C.S. Lewis read this, he called this “the shadowlands.” Our lives are nothing but shadows. It is not many generations later in the future where our names are forgotten. Our descendants will have to do an ancestry.com search to trace their ancestry and get our names.
So, what is the whole point here? When we are having a challenge to bite our tongues, we need to remind ourselves just how small we really are and how brief our lives will be. Those who push our buttons are too small also. This means we do not have to justify ourselves or prove to people that we are right. This life is way too short for that. Standing next to a tall Sequoia reminds us that in comparison, we are small and brief.
Reflection Assignment: If the Lord were to tell you the exact date of your death, would you want to know? Why or why not? We live 70, 80, 90, and maybe 100 years but that’s it. Knowing this, how does this help you put your trust in the Lord (vs. 7)? Knowing our lives are brief, how does this help you not to react or overreact to those who push your buttons?
Scripture To Meditate On: James 4:14, “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, please forgive me when I get so bent out of shape over stuff that really does not matter. Help me to live every second to the fullest, maximizing all of life out of it for Your glory. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly