The Strand Study Bible

PSALMS

869

PSALMS

mine end… and how frail I really am ” (vs 4). Five centuries earlier Moses expressed the exact same thoughts (Psa 90:1-12). Men who become broken before God understand the reason behind suffering. If suffering doesn’t lead us to the same conclusion that David and Moses came to, then we don’t understand God and are in need of a “refresher” course. Both Moses and David came to the same conclusion –suffering points us to the inevitable reality that this life will soon be past and only what’s done for CHRIST will last ( I Pet 1:7a,b , II Cor 11:23-28 and Phil 1:28-29 & 3:7-8,13-15). Question – Are you suffering today? Unjustly? Then, like Moses, David and Paul, let it point you to serve CHRIST more than you ever have. The choice is ours. Our problems either point us to CHRIST or they point us to a crisis. THE ADAGE IS TRUE: If suffering can’t point us to the future, it will point us to failure 39:5 Moses said of life ( my days as an handbreadth ) in Psalm 90:9-10,12:

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off , and we fly away… So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Picture a single breath escaping your mouth on a cold day and dissipating into the air. Such is the brevity of life here. The wise will consider what awaits us on the other side of this life that so quickly ends… Most people live unprepared for death. But those who are wise will go to a reliable source to investigate what’s on the other side. And if they discover that the choices they make during their brief stay in this world will matter in the world to come, they’ll want to adjust those choices accordingly. 1

Randy Alcorn in Heaven notes:

1 Alcorn, Randy. Heaven , Carol Stream, Ill., Tyndale, 2004. Print.