by Chris Steele

September 24, 2006

“Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee…” (Psalm 39:4-5).

David’s illustration of a handbreadth is very curious. In Bible times measurements were often made using body parts such as a finger, hand, or arm. The width of a hand at the base of the four fingers equals a handbreadth. A handbreadth was considered to be one-sixth of a cubit. A cubit was the distance from the elbow to the middle finger tip. So David was saying that in God’s eyes the measurement of your life is like a handbreadth. That is not very long!

Job recorded, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not” (Job 14:1,2). Though we may live to be a hundred years old or more, life is still considered to be very short. We would be mistaken to apply these principles just to those of advanced years. We all are vulnerable to death at any age.

The other day while getting a hair cut, the barber told us that the owner of the shop had died recently. He said that he seemed to be in excellent health. He lived a very active life and worked out at the gym several days a week. But he died in his sleep of an heart attack. He was only 50 years old. Several of us began talking about how many younger people that we have heard of lately who have died. The famous words of James rings in our ears, “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away” (James 4:14).