James 4:14 reads …
“What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
This morning I read the following words by French philosopher Blaise Pascal, and I said to myself, “What a perfect explanation of James 4:14.” … especially last phrase (which I highlighted in red).
Know then, proud man, what a paradox you are to yourself. Humble yourself, impotent reason. Be silent, dull-witted nature, and learn from your Master your true condition, which you do not understand. Listen to God! See the Earth as a point compared with the vast circles it describes. Stand amazed that this circle itself is only a tiny point in relation to the course traced by the stars revolving in the firmament; that the whole visible world is no more than an imperceptible speck in the ample bosom of nature.
Now that you know you’re just an imperceptible speck of dust – well, when contrasted with the whole of the universe, that is – you might have a little better idea and an appreciation of why David in Psalm 8 might say:
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
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