Wasters

Psa 39:4  LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that 
I may know how frail I am. 
Psa 39:5  Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as 
nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. 
Psa 39:6  Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he 
heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. 
Psa 39:7  And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. 
 
          All the great wasters. You know, those obsessions with sports, video games, 
daytime drama, family feuds, American Idol, the latest physical challenge, engaging 
novels, etc.(Fill in the appropriate item?) All things that have come to be a part of one's 
life and form an aspect of their identity, but they are also things that have together been 
introduced, not to bring about the fulfillment of a completed purpose, but to steal from 
the precious time necessary to ever have a chance at reaching an incredible potential. 
They may even be things that have apparent virtue and worth, and yet, in the end, only 
will have diverted from the true path of life's fulfillment. 
	Ok, ok, you do need to enjoy to the fullest all the things that God has given us in 
life for our pleasure, but in the light of what has been brought up in this prayer from 
Psalms, there is a different perspective given to everything that we've chosen to occupy 
our limited time. A portion of our time is definitely in need of gratifying the different 
natural passions and desires of life, but there is a tendency in every individual for there to 
be a place of little significance to our ultimate end that, like a vacuum, sucks up the 
treasured gifts of time and energy. And, it's not like that shop-vac, where you can take the 
lid off the canister and retrieve the lost item. Every occupied thought and every expended 
strength, once sucked up, can never be somehow used again. Even while provision is 
being made for family in the establishment of a home and property of various kinds, 
every single monetary and material item that is thought to be acquired is actually just 
passing through our existence just as we are. And, in a sense, each of those things thought 
possessed, actually possess us, because in the end many of them will remain long after 
we're no longer around. They'll just be passed on to the next person in line. It's like, no 
matter what becomes a focus in life, there is a point to which it can be taken, where it is 
only a vain expending of the scant substance we've been given in life.
	So, how in the world is it possible to escape the suction power of this seemingly 
unavoidable vanity? Is it even possible for there to be any significance given to our 
allotted time that will remain beyond our passing? I believe the answer to this is found in 
the 7th verse here: "And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee." As the breath of 
time we've been given races by, there is an opportunity for many of its moments to be 
invested with the substance of God purpose and eternal significance. In the anticipation 
of His presence and His power, there is quality given to choices made, and power is 
obtained in this well-placed hope to resist the overwhelming draw of vanity. When He is 
given place in an expectation, though it may be something of an otherwise selfish pursuit, 
His hand and His touch causes it to be removed from the sequence of insignificance, and 
included in the formation of His eternal purpose. As He is acknowledged and honored in 
any moment's choice, it is transformed from a meaningless passage of time, to a worship 
driven treasure of divinely influenced design. 
	There is a powerful suction that will be applied to the thoughts and movements of 
this day. We are constantly being drawn into a hope and an expectation that leads to a 
vacuum, empty of meaning or purpose. Like the power of lift that overcomes the 
gravitational pull of the earth, though, there is a way for our moments to be lifted into the 
atmosphere of our Father's presence. In worship we are able to surround each choice with 
the air of His influence. We are enabled to let the vision of our end not be one of vain 
choices that led to nothing. In placing our hope in Him, our passage to His purpose is 
found, and each step is given order. May our choices and our expectation be placed in His 
hands, and may the life that is ours in these limited moments find escape to the realm of 
His eternal significance. 

3/23/06