What other scriptures emphasize the temporary nature of human life? Fading like a Moth-Eaten Garment Job 13:28 sets the tone: “So man wastes away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths.” Scripture repeats this sober reality from cover to cover. Psalms: Songs that Face Our Frailty - Psalm 39:4-5 – “O LORD, make me know my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting I am. You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight. Surely every man at his best is but a vapor. Selah” - Psalm 90:10 – “The length of our days is seventy years — or eighty if we are strong — yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.” - Psalm 103:15-16 – “As for man, his days are like grass — he blooms like a flower of the field; the wind passes over it, and he is gone, and his place remembers him no more.” - Psalm 144:3-4 – “O LORD, what is man, that You regard him, the son of man that You think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.” Wisdom Books: Hard-Won Honesty - Job 7:6-7 – “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is but a breath.” - Job 14:1-2 – “Man, born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble. Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a cloud, he vanishes, never to be seen again.” - Ecclesiastes 6:12 – “For who knows what is good for a man in his lifetime, during the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow?” Prophets: Grass withers, Word stands - Isaiah 40:6-8 – “A voice says, ‘Cry out!’ And I asked, ‘What should I cry out?’ ‘All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.’” Gospels & Apostles: The Theme Continues - James 4:14 – “You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” - 1 Peter 1:24-25 – “For, ‘All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.’ And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.” - 2 Corinthians 4:18 – “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” - Hebrews 9:27 – “Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,” - 1 John 2:17 – “The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.” Why Scripture Stresses Life’s Brevity • Cultivates humility—our days are literally few. • Awakens urgency—today is the day to seek the Lord. • Clarifies priorities—only what is rooted in God’s eternal word outlasts the moths and the rot. |
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