Our family is in the Psalms for OT readings right now.  This past week, we read this from Psalm 39:4-5:

“O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!  Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!

After reading the entire chapter, I was surprised by the context that surrounded this comparison of our lives to a breath.  I asked Sonja and the kids if they could think of another comparison that the Bible uses for the brevity of our lives.  They immediately mentioned grass.  I asked them why (did they think) God compares our lives to grass or a breath.  How about you…why do you think God uses this comparison?

Sonja had the same reply that I was thinking of in my head.  God tells us that our lives are like grass so that we will understand that life is short and we shouldn’t waste it but make it count for something.  Now the motive to be productive with our lives may be another great reason for the analogy, but this was not the context surrounding David in Psalm 39.  We read other passages with the “man is like grass” comparison in the Psalms, Isaiah, James, and 1 Peter.  Here were the common contexts and seeming motives for the analogy:

• God wanted to encourage His people suffering under oppression that the oppressor was finite and their days were numbered.
• God wanted to encourage His people who were suffering that the suffering would pass soon.
• God wanted to humble His people and did so by reminding them how short their time is.
• God wanted people to understand the certainty of His Word and His work, so he juxtaposed their brevity with His eternality.

With a couple friends in the midst of suffering and persecution, we thought about how the “grassiness” of our lives here on earth might be an encouragement to them that their hardships will not last forever, but the One whom they trust in and has promised them eternal life…He is everlasting!

On a side note, if you’ve ever wondered whether grass is a good analogy for some thing with a brief lifespan, come visit Chad where the grass sprouts up in rainy season and then dies two months later when the rains stop.  It is a brief appearance :-)