Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

Yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

So the pictures clear, man in his pump, picture man in his pride, man in his boasting in the

things of this world, whether it's wealth or fame or superiority in this way or that way,

that's what the whole psalm going back to the beginning is about. This is a psalmist thinking

about people who are cheating him around him, who are trusting in their wealth, who are boasting

in the abundance of their riches and their power, all of the things that they have in this world.

And then he says right in the middle and then right at the end, man in his pump with all these

things will not remain. He's like the beast that perish. Man in his pump yet without understanding.

In other words, pride in this world makes one foolish, takes away one's understanding.

So as we reflect on these verses, I think it's helpful first and foremost to look not at others

hearts and all those people who boast and all these things in the world, but to look at our own

hearts and to think about pride in our own lives and to pray that God would remove

pompous pride from us, boasting in the things of this world, that that would not be so among us,

that God would give us humility, that we would realize that the things of this world that we

are prone to boasting will not last only what is done in humility before God for the purposes of God

will last so to consider pride and pomp in our own hearts. And then yes, this is what the psalmist

is doing looking at the world around him and reminding himself to keep perspective when it looks like

everyone else is succeeding in this way or that way or specifically when others are treating

you unjustly or unfairly or attacking you or cheating you, that's the language here in psalm 49

to step back and remember this too shall pass. And just like the beast that perish, the pride and

injustice of men and women will also perish. And in this way, the psalm backens us to keep an

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