“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:16).

Psalm 17:14 speaks of “men of the world, which have their portion in this life.” The Hebrew word translated “world” in this particular verse means “life as a fleeting portion of time,” in the sense of a transient sojourn. It is elsewhere translated “age” or “short time.” Consider “Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity” (Psalm 39:5), and “Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain” (Psalm 89:47). Although man’s lifespan may be fleeting and his life’s work of little worth, yet it does us much good to focus on that which is eternal and powerful.

This verse in Psalm 89 follows a long and praise-filled account of God’s greatness and goodness. “I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever” (v.1). . . . “For who in heaven can be compared unto the LORD? . . . God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him” (vv.6,7). . . . “The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them” (v.11). These verses are reminiscent of Psalm 8:3,4: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”

Though it is true that “man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble” (Job 14:1), and that “all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass” (I Peter 1:24), the good news is that “the word of the Lord endureth for ever” (v.25), and, as believers, we are “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (v.23). CJH