Psalm 118:17

Psalm 118:17

I will not die but live

In Psalm 6:5 David rightly asks, “Among the dead no one proclaims Your name. Who praises you from the grave?” In Psalm 115:17-18 we read, “It is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go down to the place of silence; it is we who extol the Lord, both now and forevermore.” Here, in Psalm 118, we are reading about the near-death experiences of a valiant King who also faced the probability of leaving this world, but then death’s clutches were withdrawn and he lived to fight another day! 

Let’s be clear here and we all know this, we will, one day, physically die. Our bodies will reach the end of their earthly journey, they are not designed to keep going much beyond 70-80 years. Some live a little longer, others die long before this but whichever way you look at it, we are mortal beings. Now if your only purpose is to see out this life then it makes sense to enjoy as much of it as possible and to take as much of it as possible. It also makes sense to accumulate earthly wealth and property so that your offspring can also have their share of the good life. Having survived a heart attack and severe heart failure just over 10 months ago I can say that it is good to celebrate life in an enhanced state of mind, everything is sweeter, richer, more beautiful and more wonderful than ever. But, I’m aware that this freedom from the grave has not altered by one minute, the time and date when I must leave this world. 

Those of us who trust in the Lord God believe that the end of our natural lives on earth is only the beginning, that there is an eternal existence that awaits those who have been saved from death, by faith. We believe that although our bodies will die, our spirits do not. We will go on to inherit new bodies and an existence that far exceeds anything that this world has given us. 

In the light of all of this, let us “Proclaim what the Lord has done.” This world is not our only and final destination, so we don’t need to accumulate wealth or gratify ourselves with earthly things as if there is nothing else. We will not die but live. Hallelujah!

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