Psalm 38:8
reprioritizing everything
And now what is my hope? is it not the Lord? and my substance is with thee. (Psalm 38:8 DR)
The probationary nature of our sojourning in this life means that we are always in an in-between state between where we came from and where we are going. Such a truism might seem trite, yet nevertheless describes the unsettled feeling we often have on the way. For while we can see progress from an earlier state of form of life, we also recognize (if advancing in humility) that there is further to attain:
Not as though I has already attained, or were already perfect; but I follow after, if I may by any means apprehend, wherein I am also apprehended by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12).
The Psalmist have advanced from the disquietude of contemplating the finitude and futility of this life to something better. Those former thoughts now serve as a foil for apprehending that his hope can only be found in God; in the face of such vanity, what else can he hope for in this world? It thus directs his gaze heavenwards, to the end for which we are all created. As the over-leaper he has finally clambered over the clutter of this world which occluded his vision to see the truth in full light and now longs for more:
And now, says this Idithun — looking back on a certain “vain” show, and looking up to a certain Truth, standing midway where he has something beyond him, and something also behind him, having below him the place from which he took his spring, having above him that toward which he has stretched forth — “And now,” when I have “over-leaped” some things, when I have trampled many things under foot, when I am no longer captivated by things temporal; even now, I am not perfect, “I have not yet apprehended.” [Philippians 3:13] (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 38, 13.)
With this realization also comes humility in a paradoxical manner, for while he makes progress in the spiritual life it comes with the concomitant understanding that there is still yet far to go. His hope, after all, is still a hope and thus as of yet unfulfilled (cf. Romans 8:24-25). But patience works itself in this humility, and the things of this world which are good gifts from God become the means of perfecting oneself in virtue as they are despised in favor of desiring God. Again, this life is probationary, and thus while we have the goods of this world to enjoy as gifts from God, they cannot form the aim or the end of this life, for they only end in vanity. All the things of this world need to be ordered towards the end which is union with God lest they trip us up (cf. Hebrews 12:1):
Therefore he says: “And now what wait I for? Is it not for the Lord?” He is my expectation, who has given me all those things, that I might despise them. He will give unto me Himself also, even He who is above all, and “by whom all things were made,” [Colossians 1:16] and by whom I was made among all; even He, the Lord, is my Expectation! You see Idithun, brethren, you see in what way he waits for Him! Let no man therefore call himself perfect here; he deceives and imposes upon himself; he is beguiling himself, he cannot have perfection here, and what avails it that he should lose humility? (ibid.)
St. Augustine notes that as this passage concludes the Psalmist reframes the substance which earlier was nothing before Thee as now being before Thee or with Thee. These are the days which both are and are not, which stand in for our contingent existence that can only analogously be called “being,” in that in comparison to God it is nothing. That is its natural state for those who have not yet leaped over the things of this world. But for the Psalmist who has rejected them to hope in the Lord, his substance is now with the Lord; in other words, he has finally begun to “be,” as it were:
“And my substance is ever before You.” Already advancing, already tending towards Him, and to some extent already beginning to “be,” still (he says ) “my substance is ever before You.” Now that other substance is also before men. You have gold, silver, slaves, estates, trees, cattle, servants. These things are visible even to men. There is a certain “substance that is ever before You.” (ibid.)
The things which we in this world naturally see as successful or prosperous such as wealth, possessions, etc., are part of the substance of vanity that is as “nothing before Thee.” But the substance that is “with Thee” is distinct and will not necessarily include those things. We therefore cannot judge based on the vanities of this world or in the manner that world does; as the Scriptures say:
Man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7 DR)
Our hope must therefore not consist in any way in the things of this life such as health or wealth or good fortune or comfort, but must be comprised of the hope and expectation of the Lord alone. This is not merely an intellectual exercise or a sentiment but is executed practically by the ordering of one’s life and priorities towards that hope and expectation. The good gifts that God gives to us are not to spend on our pleasures but to lead us to Him, which may result in us rejecting them in favor of a greater good. Much like eating is a good but fasting foregoes food for a greater good, so when we seek after God first we gain the greatest good, as our Lord promises:
Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33 DR)
For this animation I kept things simple. I found a couple of nice textures and brought them into After Effects, one of which I precomped. I then drew a few ellipses, duplicated the texture precomp, used the ellipses as Mattes and then precomped each texture and ellipse. I went into the texture precomp and used loopFlow to give it some movement and then colorized each individual precomp different and resized them. I finally added Shadow Studio 3 to each ellipse precomp for some nice lighting and added a looping wiggle to the shadow direction for each precomp.
Enjoy.
And now what is my hope? is it not the Lord? and my substance is with thee.
(Psalm 38:8 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: