As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth
Psalm 103 has been singing of God's mercy and a father's pity; now it turns to the man who receives it, whose life is as short as grass. Why does a song of blessing stop on something so bleak, and what is left when the flower is gone?
One writer notes that the flower, the finest part of the plant, is the first thing to go.
We do not think about it seriously enough. Still, man's days are like grass, and even the most outstanding of men are like the flower of grass. The flower fades even before the grass withers away. The winds of circumstance pass over it, "and it is gone." If he thinks he is strong while he is young, yet what of old age? "The longest life is short, fading almost before it has begun." Usually too, man is soon forgotten: "its place remembers it no more" (v. 16).
The verse turns to man's short life right after speaking of God's pity. That frailty is not an accusation. It is the ground of His pity, and it belongs to His ordering of things.
Then we are assured of the fountain of infinite pity in Him who remembers that we are only dust. Yet it is under His government that man's days find their image in the flower of the field. If the wind passes hard over that flower, it is gone forever out of its place.
Job used the same picture, and one writer sets the two passages side by side.
This is poetic, and true from man's point of view: "he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more." It is the funeral song of human existence since sin brought in death. "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him" (Ps. 103:15-18). Ah, Job sees only the dark side, for though he turns to God as he does here, it is not of mercy but of wrath that he speaks.
One writer sent these words to someone who was ill. He treats a broken season of life as gain, not loss.
He makes no mistakes, and there is nothing that escapes His eye and hand. "He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous" — what a mercy! ... the course of life is broken for you for the moment. Even if you recover strength, as I trust you may, and rejoice in God's present goodness, the experience will still have been there. It will give a tone to life, and that is a great gain. "As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him."
The same picture raises a practical question: where can trust rest?
Human nature is fallen, and in it there is no stability. Its flower is short-lived and nothing more. The grass withered, the flower fell away. There can be no trust, no dependence on the creature. ... If human nature at its best is feeble and failing, man needs what abides; and so, in contrast with that which fades away, "the word of the Lord (Jehovah) abides for ever."
- Grass — A human life lasts one season. Its finest part, the flower, fades before the grass does, and a man's place soon forgets him.
- Dust — God has not overlooked this. He remembers our frailty, and it is the very ground of His pity.
- Wind — One rough gust and the flower is gone from its place; nothing in the creature is stable enough to lean on.
- Contrast — Job said these same words and heard only a funeral song. The psalm says them, then turns to a mercy that lasts from everlasting to everlasting.
- Abides — Because man needs what lasts, the answer to a fading flower is the word of the Lord, which endures forever.
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof knoweth it no more.
Psalm 103 has just described a God who forgives, heals, and pities like a father. Then it looks at the creature He pities and calls him grass. Verse 16 finishes the picture with a gust of wind — and raises the question of what, if anything, outlasts it.
The psalm picks the most short-lived thing on the field.
Though we do not think about it seriously enough, man's days are like grass, and even the most outstanding of men are like the flower of grass. The flower fades even before the grass withers away. The winds of circumstance pass over it, "and it is gone." If he thinks he is strong while he is young, what about old age? "The longest life is short, fading before it has scarcely begun." Generally too, man is soon forgotten: "its place remembers it no more" (v. 16).
The withering is not random. One writer sets God's pity for dust beside God's rule over man's days.
Then we are assured of the fountain of infinite pity in Him who remembers that we are only dust. Yet it is under His government that man's days find their image in the flower of the field. If a rough wind passes over that flower, it is gone for ever out of its place.
Job says almost the same words in his own book. What follows them is different.
This is poetic, and true as far as man's view goes: "the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more." It is the funeral song of human existence since sin brought in death. "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him" (Ps. 103:15-18). Job sees only the dark side. He does turn to God here, but he speaks of wrath and not of mercy.
Verse 17 opens with one word: "but." Where these writers quote it as "mercy," the ESV reads "steadfast love."
Weak man's beauty flourishes like a flower, and then a storm of wind withers it. In contrast, the "mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children." Neither the frailty of man nor the adverse wind of the enemy can change either "the mercy" or "righteousness" of the Lord.
Israel sings this psalm, and the nation had learned this truth the hard way. Isaiah said the same about a whole people, not just one person.
As for man, he is as grass; and the people had been as grass and withered (Isa. 40). But the mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear Him, the obedient ones. So it all traces back to goodness, yet also to faithfulness, arising from the very nature and name of Jehovah.
If man is this fragile, who is the gospel for, and is there anything that lasts? One writer answers both questions.
Man is not only sinful, unclean, and corrupt, but weak, and without continuance; for he passes away. Rich or poor, high or low, in this there is no difference... it is blessed to remember that Jesus died for weak and frail ones. Scripture says, "while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6). But while man fades like this, and his glory passes away so fast, is it not most blessed to know that God has given us something that endures? It is His own word, "which lives and remains for ever."
One commentator wrote to someone whose health had broken. He used this passage as comfort, not as gloom.
He makes no mistakes, and there is nothing that escapes His eye and hand... The course of life is broken with you for the moment. Even if you recovered strength, as I trust you may, and rejoiced in God's present goodness, the experience will still have been there. It will give a tone to life, and that is a great gain.
- Grass. Man's days are like grass and his best glory like its flower — and the flower fades before the grass even withers.
- Wind. The gust that ends the flower is not chance. It belongs to God's government of man's days.
- But. Verse 17 turns everything. Neither man's frailty nor the enemy's wind can touch the mercy and righteousness of the Lord.
- Difference. Job spoke these same words and saw only wrath. The psalm speaks them and sees mercy.
- Comfort. Weak and frail people are the ones Christ died for. Even a broken course of life can leave a great gain behind.