“Show me, Lord, my life’s end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.
You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you. Verses 4,5
I always thought this verse meant we should remember how short our life is here and concentrate on eternal things. According to Bible scholars though, this is not what it means. They say David is longing for death to put an end to his misery. Well, I have felt that way myself many times.
The psalmist is weary of life, expects nothing from it, feels that it is "altogether vanity." He asks, therefore, not exactly for death, but that it may be told him how long he will have to endure the wretched life that he is leading. He anticipates no relief except in death, and feels, at any rate for the time, that he would welcome death as a deliverer.
David often starts his Psalms off being angry or despairing but he almost always ends with hoping in God.
“But now, Lord, what do I look for?
My hope is in you. Verse 7
I live the same way. I get angry, depressed and despairing; I feel life is too painful for me to bear. And it is too painful without God. But after awhile, I go to God for help and there I find strength and hope.
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