Psalm 49:16-17

Psalm 49:16-17

Do not be overawed by riches

We live in a very materialistic world. Power, position and status, success and reward are all measured in financial terms. I shouldn’t need to go on about this, every advert, every housing estate, car park, shopping centre and restaurant promotes those who “have” against those who do not. The lust for money and status is so endemic that it’s highly unlikely that any of us realise how much we are controlled by its lures. The sense of well-being that comes from “being comfortably off” or having savings for a rainy day or being able to purchase something whenever we feel the need, is something that everyone wants. That sense spills over into our preparations for the future, the insurance policies, pensions and investments that will protect us if life takes an unexpected turn. We plan not just for ourselves but also for our descendants and life can turn into a fiercely pursued mission to accumulate material things. Most people are engaged in this and so it is easy to look at the next person and envy the fact that they seem to have progressed further than us. We talk about “getting ahead.” 

The psalmist reminds us here that it is all so pointless. There comes a day, not too far in the future, when we will be parted from it all. The rich cannot take their splendour with them, so what is the point? If all that life offers is the pursuit of things that we then have to abandon, what is the point of life? Thank God we have a different understanding of our purpose, without Him our existence has no meaning.

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