My life, it don't count for nothin'
when I look at this world I feel so small
And my life is only a season, a passing September
that no-one will recall
It is achingly honest about the fruitless struggles and the futility of much of human life:
My life is half the way travelled
and still I have not found my way out of this night
And my life is tangled in wishes
and so many things that just never turned out right
The song takes its own small stand against that wall of emptiness by celebrating the possibility that love can bring joy and comfort in pain, but even they can only "make things seem better for a while".
In Psalm 8, David also movingly reflects on his own finitude against the backdrop of the endless starry sky, but he finds meaning and comfort in knowing that the living God cares for humankind and is mindful of them:
"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory in the heavens...
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?"
David is humbled and amazed by the sight in the sky and the significance it bears.
And yet, within the beauty of this psalm, all is not well. Embedded within David's meditation are enemies - the foe and the avenger. In this vast cosmos, home to the blended kindness of God, a darkness prevails.
And yet, within the beauty of this psalm, all is not well. Embedded within David's meditation are enemies - the foe and the avenger. In this vast cosmos, home to the blended kindness of God, a darkness prevails.
Will it always do so? How can it be banished? The questions that are hinted at are left unanswered but are taken up in Hebrews 2 where the writer is quite plain: yes, it's true that we do not see humanity flourishing as God intended; evil is present, terrorising souls with the endless waste that is death. A great shadow hangs over all of human life - the foe and the avenger are fully present. Tragically, we don't see humanity raised to fulness. But we do see Jesus!
"Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while,
now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death,
so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone..."
Having drained the cup of suffering and judgement, he calls to us in our bittersweet days, telling us that we are not simply noticed and named but that we can be lifted and loved and filled with immeasurable joy.
Through his cross the darkness has been endured and overcome and a great shadow has departed. The foe and the avenger are silenced through the praises of the redeemed, from the lips even of babes and infants.
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Jesus, Jesus, all-sufficient
Beyond telling is Thy worth;
In Thy Name lie greater treasures
Than the richest found on earth.
Such abundance
Is my portion with my God.
In Thy gracious face there’s beauty
Far surpassing every thing
Found in all the earth's great wonders
Mortal eye hath ever seen
Rose of Sharon,
Thou Thyself art heaven's delight.
William Williams
(tr. Bobi Jones)
