The Mortal Man

Psalms 56:3-4 says, “When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?”

I’ve always had this belief about scripture and really anything you read that you hear or translate things differently based on your circumstances or current time of life. This verse, which I have on a post-it note on my monitor at work, is one that I read on a daily basis as a reminder to trust in the Lord regardless of life’s circumstances. But over the past week or so, this verse has revealed so much more emotion.

Last week, a dear friend of mine Paige Nair, lost her husband in a motorcycle accident. As if that isn’t traumatic enough, she is due any moment for her first baby, Liam. As my prayers have been constantly for her, I’ve been putting myself in her shoes and each time it so difficult to find understanding, trust, and comfort…

“What can mortal man do to me?” How strong are these words?

As humans, I strongly believe that we live life as though we are almost invincible, as if there will always be a tomorrow. I find myself believing without a doubt that I’m guaranteed to get married, have kids, and grow old because that’s what is suppose to happen…right? Well, I am learning these past few months that life is so incredibly fleeting. When we are here on earth, we become attached to our lives although the Bible clearly tells us not to. We become attached to people, lifestyles, relationships, or even just the plans that we have. Then, being caught off guard, these people, lifestyles, relationships, or plans that we had are ripped from our fingertips without any understanding, which most always leads to anger, hurt, pain, confusion, bitterness, or depression because those things we held dearly we believed belonged to us. But if we are never guaranteed tomorrow, how can we claim anything to be ours? I am so troubled by this idea of not holding onto the things of the world but I am finding comfort in one incredible fact: I may not have the power to guarantee my life or the lives of the ones I hold dear to me, but I can guarantee that if they share the same belief in the Father as I, HE does have the power to protect them here on earth and a plan for their arrival into our true home in Heaven. I’ll tell you what mortal man can do to me, he can cause me hurt, anger, depression, unhappiness, and make me forget that GOD is never surprised by the happenings of our life; He is NEVER caught off guard by our circumstances.

There are so many things in life that we are unable and completely incapable of understanding, one of these things is death, especially when it is sudden. I cannot begin to understand the feelings of those who have lost loved ones too soon without the chance to say goodbye. But I do understand the God I serve and He is GOOD, He is POWERFUL, He is LOVING, and He is our FATHER who guarantees His children an eternity after this life. So although we won’t ever be able to find understanding of the terrible happenings in this life, we can have peace that God knew it was going to happen and He has it all under control and holds us all so dearly and closely to His heart. It’s okay to be afraid, God calls us to be fearful, but we obey what we fear and we are called to trust and have faith.“When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?”