The longer we live, the more evidence we see that things will change. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote, “There is nothing permanent except change,” a statement that John F. Kennedy paraphrased as, “Everything changes but change itself.” There are the normal changes of life, from birth to maturity to death, but there are also providential changes that God sends for our good and His glory. Many Jewish leaders in the days of Jeremiah the prophet thought that God would never allow Judah to be captured and Jerusalem and the temple destroyed (Jer. 7), but the Babylonian army did all three. They also took prisoners to Babylon and left only the poorest of the people to care for the land. Because of their rebellion against the law of God, Israel was left without a king, priesthood, temple, or sacrifice. Instead of the Lord’s face shining upon them with blessing (Num. 6:25), His face was turned away from them in judgment (27:9; 59:17; Gen. 43:3, 5; Deut. 31:17–18).
Whether we are suffering because of our sins, or because we stand up for the Lord, or simply because we need to be better equipped for service, these changes are not pleasant. The psalmist recorded his personal plight in a series of vivid pictures. With his days as flimsy and temporary as drifting smoke, and his frame burning with fever (31:10; 32:3; 42:10), he was like a man in a furnace. His heart was like the cut and withered grass (vv. 4, 9; 90:4–5; Job 19:20; Lam. 4:8), paining him so much that he forgot to eat. When he did eat, the food tasted like ashes and his drink like tears (v. 9; 42:3; 80:5; Lam. 3:16). Therefore, he became a living skeleton that could only groan because of his wretched situation (v. 5). He compared himself to the unclean birds (Lev. 11:17–18) that lived solitary lives amid the ruins of the city. He was awake all night, a lonely man, like a sparrow bereft of his mate and chirping his lament on the roof. The enemy officers showed no sympathy but used his name in their curses (v. 8). It was as though God’s hand picked him up and threw him on the trash heap, like a piece of discarded junk (v. 10; 51:11; 71:9; 147;17; Isa. 22:17–18). Like the evening shadows as the sun goes down, his life kept changing, but his days had no substance. Then the darkness fell, and the long, hard night lay before him. (See Deut. 28:66–67.)
One of the first steps toward personal peace and victory is to accept the fact that there will be changes in life, and how we respond will determine what these changes do to us and for us. The psalmist responded by turning to the Lord for help.