Less Than Nothing
by Gary Henry
via WordPoints.com
"As for the children of men, they are but vanity;
The children of men are deceitful;
Upon the weights they are altogether lighter than vanity itself." (Psalms 62:9 Coverdale Bible, 1535)
The Psalms contain poetry that is remarkably frank and vivid. Especially striking are its portrayals of godless living and its consequences. One such passage caught my attention a few days ago. In the distinctive diction of the 16th-century Coverdale Bible, Psalms 62:9 says concerning those who are deceitful: “Upon the weights [scales] they are altogether lighter than vanity itself.”
In this verse, the Hebrew word translated “vanity” is "hebel," the same word famously used in Ecclesiastes. It means to be without substance. Like a vapor or wisp of smoke, vanity is worthless; it amounts to nothing. So to be “lighter than vanity itself” is to be worth less than nothing. Such a person is worse than insignificant.
No human being is inherently worthless, of course. Made in God’s image, we all have a built-in worth that no amount of bad behavior can entirely erase, at least in this life. We do well to keep that in mind before labeling anyone a “lost cause” (including ourselves).
But if we can’t erase our God-given value completely, we can certainly waste it. By refusing to be what God created us to be, we can become children of the devil. To a certain group of hardened, hypocritical adversaries, Jesus put it bluntly: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).
My prayer, for you and for me, is that we will rise above such “nothingness.” May we say no to the pervasive pride and materialism that surrounds us. Tempted to live for immediate gratification in the here and now, we can, by the grace of our Heavenly Father, make better choices. We can become much more than “gilded dust.”
The only “weight” that godless living imparts is the empty, onerous weight of pride — we become just another Belshazzar: “weighed in the balances, and found wanting” (Daniel 5:27). True substance has only one source: the obedience of faith. So, in gratitude for God’s guidance, let’s be brave enough to heed the warnings of wisdom.
"Light as vanity, heavy as regret" (Old Saying).
