Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Vapor: Ramblings from the book of Ecclesiastes


The average human being will live approximately twenty eight thousand days upon this Earth.  In that time our hearts will have beat two and half billion times and we will have inhaled and exhaled almost seven million times.  It is astounding when you consider the brevity of it all.  David included the Hebrew word “Selah” which is left undefined but is instruction for us to quietly consider what we have just read.  The message is clear; we are not on this Earth for long.

            The brevity of life is the topic of many passages of Scripture throughout the Old and New Testaments.  In fact, every book from Genesis to Revelation touches on the topic at some point.  God through His human authors repeatedly states that human life is as a wisp of breath before Him.  Throughout eternity He has remained constant and we are here for a moment and gone.  Peter stated “… that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”  My lifespan, your lifespan, the lifespan of all humanity is nothing before the ageless God. 

            Solomon echoed the lyrics of His father’s psalm when he wrote “vanity of vanities…”  The words literally translate “vapor of vapors…”  Adam was brought to life when God blew the breath of life into his nostrils.  Every human being is but a breath of a breath of the eternal God.  You and I are vapors of a vapor. 


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