(49:1) The Sons of Korah Speak on Worldliness - The futility of worldliness--riches, pride, fame- resounds from this psalm. Comparable in form to the book of Ecclesiastes, this psalm is one of the few written more to instruct people than to praise God. 

(49:7-9) Our Redeemer - In the slave market of the ancient world, a slave had to be redeemed or ransomed -someone had to pay the price in order for them to go free. In Mark 10:45, Ephesians I:7, and Hebrews 9:12, we learn that Jesus paid such a price so that we could be set free from slavery to sin in order to begin a new life with him. You cannot buy eternal life with God. Even if you give away millions to charity, you can't earn God's favor. Only God can redeem your soul; only he can pay the price. Don't make the accumulation of material wealth the purpose of your life. No amount of wealth can keep you from dying or buy your way into heaven. 

(49:10-14) Teasure in heaven - The rich and poor have one similarity: When they die, they leave all they own here on earth. At the moment of death (a moment all of us will face), both rich and poor are naked and empty-handed before God. The only riches we will have at that time are those we have already invested in our eternal heritage. At the time of death, each of us will wish we had invested less on earth, where we must leave it, and more in heaven, where we will retain it forever. To have treasure in heaven, we must place our faith in God, pledge ourselves to obey him, and utilize our resources for the good of his kingdom. This is a good time to check up on your investments and see where you have invested the most. Then do whatever it takes to place your investments where they really count.

Each day, we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter, making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today, we continue in the Book of Psalms with Chapter 49. In our text today, we see a theme of how trusting in worldly possessions is futile. You cannot take your possessions with you when you die, nor can you use your possessions to buy forgiveness from sin. In making an application, we see how investing our time and resources in temporal things on this earth will not profit us anything. I once heard a preacher say you never see a Hurst pulling a U-haul trailer. Instead of spending our days attempting to gain earthly wealth, we should spend our time reaching souls with the gospel, which will pay an eternal reward. How about you? Do you spend your time reaching earthly goals, or do you spend your time investing in the Kingdom of our Lord? Let us learn from our Psalm and text today to remember that we will leave our worldly possessions behind when we die as we go to meet Jesus face to face, so why not start investing in the kingdom by serving Him.