A Breath That Passes Away

But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity,
And did not destroy them.
Yes, many a time He turned His anger away,
And did not stir up all His wrath;
For He remembered that they were but flesh,
A breath that passes away and does not come again.
How often they provoked Him in the wilderness,
And grieved Him in the desert!
Yes, again and again they tempted God,
And limited the Holy One of Israel.
[Psalm 78:38-41 NKJV]

I was led to look at my grandmother’s Bible the other day, remembering that she had written in the fly leaf. As well as ‘All things point to Christ’s resurrection, all things depend on it’, which I expected to find, there was another truth at the foot of the page; ‘Everything passeth away. Eternity only remains.’ This was prescient, as It spoke to my own current thoughts about the nature of things.

We have just concluded the sale of my mother’s home in South Kintyre. What began as a holiday home in 1971, became the centre of family life these past 50 years. Here was the focus of many a celebration, and the safe haven from the storms of life. It’s name, ‘Dalbuie’ (an dail buidhe), can be translated as ‘yellow meadow’ or ‘fallow field’, but I prefer ‘pleasant place’, which it surely is.

Now, the family has to pass the property on to another — none of us has the resources to give it the care and attention the old place needs — and that parting, for me at any rate, brings a grieving at the loss. It seems like a seal on most of what I knew for three-quarters of my life. Everything passeth away.

It also brings a reminder of one’s mortality, leaving all that we have loved behind; but immediately afterwards is the blessed assurance, expressed so well in Psalm 78, that our God is full of compassion — He forgives, and does not destroy — He brings the gift of everlasting life. Eternity only remains.

Our God knows ‘the end from the beginning’; He knows too, that we are ‘a breath that passes away and does not come again’, but He is able to take that breath and transform it; holding it to Himself.

I love the way that so much of scripture gives us God’s perspective — His is the more excellent way — and then shows us why we need Him; why we fall short. We are made all the more aware of the need for Him; to be reassured that His nature is forgiveness, regardless of whatever our fault may be. He surely knows that we limit Him with our thoughts and our ideas. We are not capable of understanding the fullness of His glorious presence. We only catch the fleeting moments; small fragments of the whole.

And the LORD said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock.
So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.
[Exodus 33:21-22 NKJV]

My grandmother wrote, appropriately at the end of her Bible, ‘he who walks with God always reaches His destination.’

May it be so.

May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh, how far you are from home

Mornië utúlië
Believe and you will find your way
Mornië alantië
A promise lives within you now
May it be the shadow's call
Will fly away
May it be your journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun

Mornië utúlië
Believe and you will find your way
Mornië alantië
A promise lives within you now

A promise lives within you now

music composed by Enya
lyrics by Roma Ryan

When we receive the Holy Ghost He turns us into passionate followers of Jesus Christ. Then out of our lives will flow those rivers of living water that heal and bless, and we spend and suffer and endure in patience all because of One, and One only.

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