121 Days of Prayer

Surely Every Man at His Best Estate is Altogether Vanity

The purposes of this prayer are: Humility and Wisdom.

God of All Creation, in a psalm attributed to David, the author, similar to the Preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes, contemplated the brevity and pointlessness of human life, and wrote, “I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned; then spake I with my tongue: Jehovah, make me to know my end, and the measure of my days, what it is; let me know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as handbreadths; and my life-time is as nothing before thee: surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain show, surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them” Psalm 39:1–6 (ASV). Heavenly Father, every mature Christian can attest to the rapidity with which our lives pass by. Because we can never count on tomorrow arriving, help us, we pray, to make ourselves right with you today. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.