April 24
The Christian's Daily Treasury"As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more." Psalms 103:15. 16.
THESE words give us a very affecting view of human life, and one that we may profitably contemplate. Note
HUMAN FRAILTY. Many figures and images are employed in Scripture, to describe the uncertain tenure and the short duration of man's life. It is a mere bubble on the wave; a "leaf driven to and fro," which, however fresh and green for a season, soon fades and withers away; a lighted torch, either burnt out in the decay of nature, blown out by unforeseen accident, or wasted away by the rapid progress of disease — an hand-breadth, a shadow declining on the plain, and a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. One has strikingly described life as a little spot of time between two eternities. It is compared to
Grass. This image is used both in the Old and New Testaments. But wherein is the resemblance? In its origin. It is from the earth. We are of the earth, earthy, and this should teach us humility. In its frailty, how tender is the grass! — many things combine to destroy it, both heat and cold; the mower's scythe, and the blasting wind. Will not this apply to life? "Teach me," says David, "how frail I am." In its short duration. Matthew 6:30.
The flower of the field. This image is stronger than the former, though both are very significant. How gay and lovely is the flower of the field! — we gaze on it, and admire its beauty; but soon, and sometimes suddenly, it withers and sinks into its parent earth, and is no more seen. Just such is the case with frail man: "He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down." May such considerations induce us to seek a better life in the world to come, that while as it regards our natural being, we are as the flowers of the field, in a spiritual sense we may be trees in the garden of the church here, and plants in the paradise above, whose beauty and fragrance shall praise the Almighty; and being free from noxious vapors, blasting winds, chilling frosts, and burning heat, we shall bloom with the freshness of immortality, beside the river of life.