A Breath That Does Not Return

For he remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that goes forth and does not return. — Psalm 78:39.

Our psalmist makes us feel pretty insignificant with the above verse. He/she does so in the context of God’s forgiveness, seemingly meaning that God’s forgiveness is given because we are only flesh and soon will pass away. I’m no psalmist but I beg to differ.

Forgiveness is important and necessary because we are all significant and our actions and words matter. Maybe in God’s grand scheme our foibles are insignificant, but in the human universe our actions matter. Even more reason to rise above the hurt and pain one can inflict and forgive. God forgave humanity when it murdered his own son, and I don’t think that was “a mere breath” in even God’s eyes.

We forgive because it matters.

 

 

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About the author

Webb Hubbell is the former Associate Attorney General of The United States. His novels, When Men Betray, Ginger Snaps, A Game of Inches, The Eighteenth Green, and The East End are published by Beaufort Books and are available online or at your local bookstore. When Men Betray won one of the IndieFab awards for best novel in 2014. Ginger Snaps and The Eighteenth Green won the IPPY Awards Gold Medal for best suspense/thriller. His latest, “Light of Day” will be on the bookstands soon.