Psalm 102: The Journey’s End?

It is better to go a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. – Ecclesiastes 7:2

When was the last time you went to a funeral?

For me, it was today. She was in her mid-fifties and left behind a loving husband and three children in their twenties. It seems trite to say her passing was a good reminder of my own mortality. She was a woman who, according to the many people who spoke at the service, made a strong impact for good in the lives of others. She was kind, caring, loved God and loved to tell others about him. She treated others with respect and went out of her way to befriend anyone she met regardless of age, race, or ability. It seemed that people had more to say than time allowed about her merits and how she inspired others to continue her example of how to live a good life by loving others.

For my part, I only interacted with her during the soccer season as her three children were all members, at one point or another, of soccer teams I have helped coach. But I have to say I understand what everyone else described. She was a good woman, a woman after God’s own heart who knew she was not her own, but rather God’s. She purposed in her heart to live the way in which God wanted her to live, yet even so, after fifty-some years of a life well-lived, she was laying in a coffin at the front of a room.

I don’t state this for the purpose of complaining about death’s painful eventuality, nor do I bring it up to tell us all to count our days, because they are numbered. I say this to help us remember that even though we are God’s children (Psalm 100) and we might live lives that are modeled after God’s heart (Psalm 101), life is still filled with trouble and we will eventually die (Psalm 102). And oddly, I mean this to be an encouragement to us all.

I’ve written on this before, but it is worth repeating: life is not as pretty and comfortable as many would like us to believe.
Some people say we can live our best life now if we only follow the commands of God in every aspect of our life as if they were some magic formula useful in warding off evil spirits. On the negative side, these people often equate disasters in this world as God’s direct judgment on a group of people for their sinfulness. For instance, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans these people talked about how God brought judgment on the city for its “licentiousness and debauchery” (yes, someone used those exact words!) These same people also claimed the tsunamis in Japan, Bangladesh, and India were God’s judgment on those of foreign religions. But I think this sort of reasoning couldn’t actually be much further from the truth of scripture if it tried.

True, God is the author of well-being and calamity (Isaiah 45:6), but he brings it to both the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45), and his purposes are beyond our ability to comprehend (Job 42:1-6). Instead of telling others why something has happened, it seems to me the first conclusion we can draw from the reality of calamities, pain, suffering, and death is that God is in control and we must learn to trust him. But there is also a second conclusion which possibly has much broader implications. In this world created and sustained by one who never changes and never decays, we are still destined to die.

It is a morose reminder, but it is also important, especially following Psalm 100 and 101. We are God’s people and we are called to seek his righteousness throughout our entire life. But this does not guarantee we won’t have trials and this does not guarantee we won’t go through times of unfulfilled longing and even desperation. And while it is impossible for us to unpack all the variables that go into every event in our lives as orchestrated by an infinite God, it is possible for us to learn to trust him.

Look back to Psalm 1 and remember the contrast between the wicked and the righteous man. The wicked man is destined to be blown away like chaff in the wind while the righteous man will prosper. But the psalmist does not promise or even imply any sort of temporary prosperity. No, the contrast between the righteous and the wicked is played out on a much larger stage than this life, it encompasses eternity. It is on that stage where the psalmist, and God, declares the righteous will prosper while the wicked will be destroyed.

The leaves us with our hope resting in an eternal and unfading God who orchestrates all that occurs in our lifetime, both good and bad. But he also promises to make us his children which means we will dwell securely with him forever.

Or, as Gandalf said to Pippen in the darkest hours of the siege of Minas Tirith,

End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back and all turns to silver glass. And then you see it. White shores, and beyond a far green country under a swift sunrise.