Psalm 49:14 – Appointed For Sheol

The arrogance of those who hate God knows no bounds.  These are people who have determined that they are masters of their own destiny, and as such, that they can cheat Death and Sheol.  Regardless of their hubris, the Lord gives us who love Him the promise of His Word that they will fail in their attempt to play God.  Psalm 49:5-9 says in this regard:

Why should I fear in times of trouble,

    when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,

those who trust in their wealth

    and boast of the abundance of their riches?

Truly no man can ransom another,

    or give to God the price of his life,

for the ransom of their life is costly

    and can never suffice,

that he should live on forever

    and never see the pit.

The wealthiest of the wealthy – the global elites – of this world indeed do trust that their riches will enable them to escape the clutches of Death.  They believe that all they’ve accumulated in this life will give them the means to ransom their souls and avoid the terrors of Sheol.

Consider the effort today, with the incredible technology available to mankind, what the real objective is for those who think they are above the rest of the human race because of their money.  With the advent of artificial intelligence, and the power of supercomputers, coupled with augmented reality, these people seek to escape the grave.  They look at their quest as a multi-step process with one the most important being the idea of transhumanism.  They have to couple man and machine, to merge the organic with the inorganic.  In their foolishness, they believe they can upload their minds to these powerful, networked computers to ultimately achieve immortality.  Apparently, they think that the soul – if they even acknowledge there is a soul – is the same as one’s consciousness.

Here is what God says about that pursuit in Psalm 49:10-12:

For he sees that even the wise die;

    the fool and the stupid alike must perish

    and leave their wealth to others.

Their graves are their homes forever,

    their dwelling places to all generations,

    though they called lands by their own names.

Man in his pomp will not remain;

    he is like the beasts that perish.

God will not allow these men to succeed.  They consider themselves wise but are fools.  They don’t understand that God is in charge and He has appointed a day for all men to die – but once!  Then they will be judged.  Did they love, revere, and follow the Lord God through His Son, Jesus Christ, or did they follow their own will and way?

Transhumanism is the waystation for those who think like this and have the wealth to attempt anything they can imagine.  First, they incorporate technology into the human body to make that seamless integration, then they go to the ultimate destination.

This is posthumanism.  They want to go beyond the limits that God has ordained for mankind.  Remember what He said at the Tower of Babel as one of the reasons that He scattered them and confused their language.  Genesis 11:6 succinctly says:

And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”

Isn’t that true?  What boundaries do those with wealth see for themselves?  None.  They can finance rockets into space and see the stars in such a way that others cannot.  They can freeze their bodies in the hopes that future generations will revive them back to youth.  They can envision their entire consciousness floating about in the ethers of the internet without the need for a body to encumber them.  This is the goal of posthumanism.

Their every desire is to cheat God of what they know He ordained.  And, in any other universe with any other reality that did not include a sovereign Creator, i.e. in the fictional vapors in the mind of a science fiction writer – they could do such a thing.

But once more we see how vain this thought is and what God’s realty dictates as Psalm 49:13-14 declares:

This is the path of those who have foolish confidence;

    yet after them people approve of their boasts. Selah

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.

These are the ones that God laughs at as they attempt to bypass the way of life that He brought forth and controls.  The age-old lie that we can be as God, which these wealthy individuals have appropriated as their own, will be shown to be nothing but deceit.

The final statement in this psalm says it all by telling of their end.  Psalm 49:20 reiterates:

Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Their conceit is nothing but empty pomp.  They will perish no differently from the beasts of the field.

But what of us who love the Lord?  Here is His assurance in Psalm 49:15:

But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,

    for he will receive me. Selah

2 Responses to “Psalm 49:14 – Appointed For Sheol”

  1. Reply darrel hawbaker

    I believe the reference should Psalm 45:15-9, not 45:55-9. The psalm only has 20 verses.

Leave a Comment