Oct 14 - Psalm 49:5

Why should I fear

in times of trouble,

when the iniquity of my

persecutors surrounds me

Psalm 49:5

On the day that I happen to be writing this, I am up early. I am waiting in the cell phone lot at the airport. And all morning, as the flight was repeated delayed, I’ve been listening to sermons on the book of Job. As I turn now to the Psalms, Psalm 49 is an eerie and wonderful echo of Job. Let me walk you through it ...

Verses one and two are a call for all of us to listen and pay attention: “Hear this, ... all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together.”

The Psalmist acknowledges that on this earth things are not always fair – at least as we might describe fair. Sometimes the poor in character prosper, while the rich in character struggle. But fear not -- the folly of “6 those who trust in their wealth" is about to be exposed. 

How? Why? Because at least in worldly terms, death has the final answer to our worldly circumstance. As it says in verse 10, "the wise, they die; fool and dolt perish together and leave their wealth to others." In other words, an earthly focus on prosperity will perish as surely as our earthly bodies will perish.

And if one's focus is only earthly, then "11 their graves [will be] their homes forever."

Indeed, as it says in verse 14, "Death shall be their shepherd; straight to the grave they descend, and their form shall waste away; Sheol [let's call this abode of the dead, 'hell'] shall be their home."

"13 Such is the fate of the foolhardy, the end of those who are pleased with their lot. ... 17 For when they die they will carry nothing away; their wealth will not go down after them."

So where is the hope? 

And here is what is remarkable ... And here, indeed, is the truest echo of Job. Here is the hope that we often miss when reading this otherwise discouraging book ... I believe that Psalm 49 prefigures the coming of the Messiah, we know to be Jesus Christ.

Verse seven says, "Truly, no ransom avails for one's life, there is no price one can give to God for it." Read that again. "There is no price [we] can give to God for [our own lives]." We cannot possibly be good enough in the eyes of a perfectly holy God. And our earthly riches surely cannot pay an infinite God nearly enough of a ransom. "8 For the ransom of life is costly, and can never suffice, 9 that one should live on forever and never see the grave."

So where is the hope? 

It begins with what are frequently the most joyful words in scripture, "but God"! "15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me." 

We can't pay a ransom high enough (verses 7 and 8). “But God" can! "15 God will ransom my soul from the power of [death, hell, the grave] and Sheol." Indeed, how "will" God "receive" a sinner like "me"? That is the gospel, which I believe this psalm is prefiguring. God himself – the son of God, Jesus Christ – will give his life as a ransom for me. 

Thanks be to God!

Indeed, as Jesus himself said -- Mark 10:45 -- "For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

In Christ's Love, 

a guy who sings along with Job

who himself prefigured the coming

of a ransomer (a redeemer), singing,

"For I know that my Redeemer lives,

and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; 

and after my skin has been thus destroyed, 

then in my flesh I shall see God"

Job 19:25-26