“Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.” - Psalm 49:12
Will not remain - Many places in scripture tell us that believers will be in heaven. To be in heaven is to remain, not as you are, but glorified as Jesus is. We will not be as we are now when we are with Jesus. Psalm 49:12 says man in his pomp will not remain, which is to say that there is nothing for him in eternity aside from outer darkness and fire. This verse, and many others like it, are meant to stir the soul to repentance and life giving faith in Christ. In order to remain, faith is required. To not remain nothing is required of you.
Unfortunately for many people, pride gets in the way of what we know is right. Romans 1 says that people suppress the truth. This means that we all know who God is for he has, “written eternity on our hearts.” We do whatever we can to escape that reality, and that means of escape is typically driven by our pride. Man in his pomp will not remain. People will die in their pride and spend an eternity in Hell because they refuse to repent and believe.
The most humble thing that has ever been done in human history is when our perfectly righteous and holy God, took on the form of a man, to come down and live as we do, without sinning, and die on the cross to take away the penalty for sin, which is death. It does not get more humble than that! Men in their pomp, however, refuse to recognize this. Be encouraged by these two verses which accompany today’s Psalm;
John 15:7 - “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
James 4:10 - “Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you.”
To abide in something, or in this case someone (Jesus) is to remain.
To humble yourself is to repent of pride for the Lord’s exaltation.