James 4:13-15

The insistent voice of the Holy Spirit reminds mortal man frequently in the Scriptures of the brevity of his life. By the repeated use of similes, the Spirit of the Lord impresses on us that our days are limited and passing swiftly.

For instance, He likens life to a weaver's shuttle (Job 7:6), the device that darts back and forth in the loom almost faster than the eye can follow.

Job speaks of life as wind (

Now my days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good. They pass by like swift ships, like an eagle swooping on its prey. § You carry them away like a flood; they are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up: in the morning it flourishes and grows up; in the evening it is cut down and withers. § Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away.The world is passing away, and the lust of...

All the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. § For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then...