Vanity

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Psalm 119:37 says, “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.”

     I had a ball point at one point in my life that I really liked.  It took no effort to make legible marks even with my poor handwriting.  Well, as time wore on, it ran out of ink and so went to Office Depot to get a refill.  It was clearly refillable, but after searching the store, I approached a salesman to try to find it and was told that they didn’t really sell the refills as most people just threw them away and purchased a new pen.  I bought a new pen and threw the old one away.  There are many things in our society that are “disposable.”    Even now, with oxygen topical wound therapy, the plastic boot which is a portable hyperbaric chamber is marked, “One time use only.”  I get a case of them each month, use them once and throw them away.  They become worthless and probably end up in a landfill somewhere, never to rot and will become a symbol of our “disposable” society.

     Worthless things are all around us from the many plastic items that are manufactured.  They look good for a while but are really not too important.  The Psalmist here is declaring that her wants to make sure his eyes are not on the worthless things of society but that his focus is on the Word of God.  The word “way” in this verse is referring to the “way” of the Lord or to His Word.  He wants to have his focus changed from the things of “vanity” or the worthless things that are all around us, and to be focused on God and His Word.  The worthless things are not only those things that are  disposable, but many other things that exist in the world system.    The old joke about not seeing a u-Haul trailer behind a hearse is true.  We indeed can’t take anything with us after we die.  All of the things that we have accumulated in our lifetime, will be gone when we take our final breath.  My mother once asked me when she was 85, “Where is all my stuff?”  I said that some was with that person, or that person and she replied, “Eighty five years of stuff, and it is all gone.”  All of the things that we accumulate to make us look good will be gone and are worthless.  The Apostle Paul spoke about his being content with whatever he had at the moment.  He might have an abundance or he might be in want, but he was content.  How do you and I feel when  we don’t have what we think we should have? Do we long for the Word of God instead?  The Psalmist did.  He desired to be made alive in the Word and through the Word than to look at the riches of the world.  Praise God today for His Word and the fact that we can find contentment today and every day