Like a Flower of the Field
Getting diagnosed with hearing loss in my mid-30s is a bit sobering. Thanks to the grace of modern technology, it’s not a disaster. But it does make me pay a little more attention to those errant gray hairs starting to appear on my head. Aging suddenly seems less like a theoretical proposition and more like a present reality. So, I’m paying more attention to my three favorite sounds: the laughter of my loved ones, the whispering of aspen leaves, and the warm resonance of my dad’s guitar. Someday I will only hear those things through mechanical aid. What else will “someday” bring, I wonder?
I don’t know what other abilities will be lost as I age, but I do know that each change will be, in its way, a gift. One less potential distraction from kingdom concerns and one more reminder that time is precious and should be used wisely. I think that’s one of the reasons King Solomon claims, “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart” (Ecclesiastes 7:2), and the author of Lamentations writes, “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth” (Lamentations 3:26-27).
The Bible teaches that we are wise to pause and consider the brevity of life. A life well lived, like any task well done, keeps the end in mind. Remembering our finitude informs our perspective, helps us understand our preciousness in God’s sight, and drives our purpose.
Two of the wisest kings of Israel often paused to consider the brevity of life. Although they were also two of the most powerful rulers, their writings display some of the humblest biblical perspectives of humanity. King David wrote, “As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.” (Psalm 103:15-16). King Solomon advised, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’... and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:1, 7).
The Bible is full of comparisons of humans to fleeting things like dust, mist, ashes, and worms. It's depressing until we consider what our mortality displays about God’s character. Though David addresses human fragility with painful honesty in Psalm 103, he devotes the majority of the psalm to celebrating God’s loving kindness toward us:
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame: he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:11-14)
When we have the proper perspective of our smallness before God, we can feel the weight of our preciousness to him. Our weakness makes God’s faithfulness more wondrous. We have a beginning and an end; he is the beginning and the end (Revelation 22:13), yet he calls us precious and honored and beloved (Isaiah 43:4). He loves us enough to take our place on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21). He values us enough to adopt us into his royal family and guarantee us an inheritance of salvation (1 Peter 2:9, Ephesians 1). Knowing how our unlimited God loves his limited creatures, we ask with David, “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4).
The infinite kindness of our infinite God drives our purpose. Considering our mortality reminds us that our time is short and one day we will answer for how we spent it (Romans 14:12). But considering God’s character reminds us that the One to whom we will answer is the One who helped us all along. We can breathe a sigh of relief as Isaiah reminds us to “Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel” (Isaish 41:14). In other words, we believe God has prepared good works for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), and we do them courageously out of the secure attachment God offers (Romans 8), confident that the work Jesus has completed is the final guarantee of our salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14) and that he will strengthen and guide us for each day’s tasks (Isaiah 30:21). Incidentally, this is what we mean at King’s Cross when we say we are “motivated by grace.”
I’m not often good at living motivated by grace. Not yet anyway, so I’m counting on God to teach me as time changes my physical abilities. Each day with my hearing is a gift, and each day without it will be a gift, because it reminds me that though my days are short and my body will fail, my God’s love is infinite and will never fail. He will hold me up with his everlasting arms all the days of my life (Deuteronomy 33:27), and when it’s over, he will carry me into his presence where fullness of joy lives (Psalm 16:11). He will do the same for you. May that be the grace that motivates our Christian lives.
Scripture for meditation: