I WILL LIKELY FEEL COMPELLED TO JOIN IN when I hear just a few words from the famous School House Rock! video, a series of teaching songs with unique cartoons.

• “Conjunction, junction, what’s your function?”
• “Interjection…”
• “Interplanet Janet, she’s a galaxy girl!”

School House Rock!

David McCall came up with the concept after trying to help his son learn some basic mathematical facts. This eventually led to seven seasons featuring 64 episodes of songs matched with simple cartoons that educated an untold number of students in the 70s and 80s.

McCall knew that setting a complex concept to music helps listeners focus and retain knowledge. The psalmist came up with a similar idea many centuries earlier. Psalm 49, written by the sons of Korah, is part of the wisdom collection of psalms designed to teach God’s people essential theology.

1 Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2 both low and high, rich and poor together!
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.
(Psalm 49:1-4 ESV)

The Problem

This psalm sheds light on one of life’s most perplexing problems. The psalmist has meditated and practiced until he can communicate clarity in a song. He will sing as he plays the lyre.

5 Why should I fear in times of trouble when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,
6 those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?
7 Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life,
8 for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,
9 that he should live on forever and never see the pit.
(Psalm 49:5-9 ESV)

The Perspective

The perplexing problem is that no man can ever pay the price to redeem another’s life. The psalmist also offers the perspective that even when we feel we are surrounded by evil, know this, it will all pass away. None of this will go on forever. It is all fleeting. People who boast and trust in themselves and ignore God will end up in the pit, eternally separated from God.

10 For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish
    and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations,
    though they called lands by their own names.
12 Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.
13 This is the path of those who have foolish confidence; yet after them people approve of their boasts. Selah
(Psalm 49:10-13 ESV)

Wisdom Fails

Even the wisest among us will miss eternal life without a relationship with God. We can all have that reconciled relationship with God because of Jesus’ willing sacrifice if we accept Him as the Lord of our lives.

14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death shall be their shepherd,
and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
(Psalm 49:14 ESV)

Sheep

There is no hope for eternity unless God intervenes for us. We can all be sheep fixed on following after whoever captures our attention next. This can lead to self-destruction. The sheep appointed to Sheol or Hell will not last long.

15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah
16 Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases.
17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him.
18 For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed—and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
19 his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see the light.
20 Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.
(Psalm 49:15-20 ESV)

But God…

But God changes everything, including the trajectory of each of our paths. He promises to ransom the psalmist’s soul & make a new home for him with the Lord.

Some people will appear to have every material blessing in the world, but no one lies on his or her deathbed wishing for more stuff. In death, the wealthy no longer have any power to do anything again. The psalmist points out how even their bodies will be eradicated in Sheol/Hell. Certain destruction awaits them.

Eternal Value

Sadly, for some, generation after generation of a family comes and goes on Earth, but there is nothing of eternal value left behind by any of them.

So, how about you? Having read this psalm, what do you take away? Is the destination of your eternal soul set? Have you accepted the gift of a relationship with God through the reconciling work of His son, Jesus? Also, as this matter becomes settled for you, what will you leave behind of eternal value? Who else will you share this gift with? Perhaps our most God-honoring legacy of eternal value might be those we shared Jesus with.

Prayer

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of ransoming my soul from the power of Sheol and then receiving me into your family. Please help me to find ways to tell others about your saving grace. Let my legacy be that I told others about you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.