Day 85 | Troi Buchanan

This is our last week of Psalms, friend! I’m so incredibly grateful for this journey that we’ve been on together. One section of our Psalm reading this week jumped out to me in particular and for me it’s deeply personal, so I’m gonna share how it lands home for me.  I hope this is applicable to an aspect of your life as well!

Psalm 144
3 O Eternal One, what is man, that You even care to know him? or the son of man, that You are mindful of him? 4 Humans are like a passing breath; their time on earth is like a shadow that passes over us during the day and soon is gone.

This passage reminds me of the book of Ecclesiastes (which, funny enough, many believe was written by David’s son, Solomon), which you may or may not know is my favorite book of the Bible. For some, this book is extremely sad and disheartening, (the theme is essentially “life is short and fast, we’re all gonna die, so stop freaking out.”) but for me I find so much freedom in that.

Ecclesiastes 1
2 – Life is fleeting, like a passing mist. It is like trying to catch hold of a breath; All vanishes like a vapor; everything is a great vanity. 3 What good does it do anyone to work so hard again and again, sun up to sundown? All his labor to gain but a little? 4 One generation comes, another goes; but the earth continues to remain. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, laboring to come up quickly to its place again and again.

My friend’s band wrote these lyrics that I feel are applicable, “But we all die the same, remembering the life that we had.” I say all this to remind you that God loves you and values you just because you exist. Not because of what you’ve done, or haven’t done, or will do.

One of the biggest struggles of my life is with chronic anxiety connected to getting things done. I put so much stock in whether not I’ve crossed off my to-do list for the day. And every time that I surrender myself to that anxiety, I lose all sense of self-worth, because there will always be more to do, more to accomplish, more areas that I need to grow in. And yet, God says that I am worthy.

For me, Psalms like these and the book of Ecclesiastes gives me permission and perspective to realize that the fate of all things does not rely on my ability to do the work that God has given me. In fact, God loved me enough to create me, fully knowing that I would fall short of perfection over and over and over again.

Let’s be the generation that engages in Kingdom work, not to earn God’s love, but because we already have it.