May 20, 2025 - Psalm 144:4 - "Man is Vanity, Christ is ALL"

Psalm 144:4

"Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away."

David, the king of Israel, pens these words during a prayer for deliverance and blessing. A man of war, trial, and transgression, he knew firsthand the brokenness of human nature and the frailty of life under the curse. In Psalm 144:3, he marvels: "LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!" And in verse 4, he declares with sober clarity: "Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away."

David had seen the rise and fall of kings and nations. He had watched the strength of men fade like withered grass and the glory of this world vanish like smoke. He knew the consequence of Adam’s fall—that "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men" (Romans 5:12). Man in his natural state is spiritually bankrupt—vain, fleeting, without substance, and utterly separated from God. David’s words are a divine assessment of fallen humanity: “Man is like to vanity.” Not merely near it or affected by it, but identified with it.

This is the doctrine of total depravity. Man is not merely sick—he is dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him” (1 Corinthians 2:14). His religion, morality, and effort are all tainted by sin and void of saving power. “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). No amount of good intention can raise him from spiritual death. He is vanity—a vapor, a shadow, a momentary breath that vanishes. “Surely every man is vanity” (Psalm 39:5).

Yet, it is against this bleak backdrop that God's sovereign grace in Christ shines brightest. Though man is nothing, God is everything. From before the foundation of the world, God purposed to save a people, not based on their worth, but according to His will and grace (Ephesians 1:4–5; 2 Timothy 1:9). The elect were not left in Adam’s ruin. They were chosen in Christ, the Surety of a better covenant, Who came not to assist the weak but to raise the dead (John 5:21). Christ, the eternal Son, “was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). He entered into this world of shadows to accomplish what no man could do. At the cross, He bore the full weight of His people’s sin, guilt, and vanity. “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

In His death and resurrection, Christ brought eternal substance where once there was only a passing shadow. He is the Light that shineth in darkness (John 1:5), and the Life that conquered the grave. Those chosen in Him are made the very Righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), not by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but by the sovereign will of God (John 1:13). His obedience is their righteousness. His blood is their redemption. His life is their life (Romans 5:9-11).

Psalm 144, while a prayer for national deliverance, is also a prophetic longing for the true Deliverer. David, though a king, cries out for One greater than himself—a Redeemer Who alone can save from sin, vanity, and death. “Blessed be the LORD my strength,” he says (Psalm 144:1), for he knew that Strength, Salvation, and Deliverance are of the Lord alone (Jonah 2:9).

For every chosen sinner given to Christ, His life, death, and resurrection are not vanity but eternal truth. He came to redeem a people plagued by brevity and sin and bring them into an everlasting kingdom. “But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him… to such as keep his covenant” (Psalm 103:17–18). He is the Substance. He is the Glory. He is the Eternal answer to man’s fleeting shadow.

So yes—“man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away” (Psalm 144:4). But for the believer in Christ, “the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth” (1 John 2:8). Our hope is not in ourselves, but in Him wWho is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable Gift (2 Corinthians 9:15)! Man is vanity. But Christ is ALL (Colossians 3:11).