Isaiah wrote: “All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass” (Is. 40:6, 7).

To demonstrate the brevity of human life, God compares us to the grass and flowers of the field. If a person works in a flower garden one day and then doesn’t return until a few days later, what has happened? The flowers have likely withered. God says it is the same with our lives. We flourish, we bloom, and we are gone.

However, the next verse interjects a stark contrast: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever” (v. 8). This is extremely significant. There is something in life that is eternal in value and importance, and it is the Word of God. His Word stands in contrast to all the wisdom, power and riches of men because all of those things are temporal and will fade just like the grass and flowers of the field.

Our lives only last a moment in the scope of eternity. May we recognize the brevity of life and order our lives around those things which are of eternal value and significance.