Psalm 49

You can't take it with you. The riches of this earth may impress many people, but as we see in verses 7 and 8 they are not enough to pay the redemption of another person. "The ransom for a life is costly -- no payment is ever enough." Amen to that.

This is a wisdom psalm. The wisdom comes from God, as the psalmist tells us in verse 4. God redeems us because we cannot do any redeeming. It is all about God's efforts and abilities which are far beyond our own.

Not only do we see the foolishness of trusting in earthly wealth, as is taught all over Scripture, but we also see that we cannot escape death. Even the rich move to the tomb and leave their life's wealth to others. Without understanding and for that matter knowing God, man is no better than roadkill. Trusting oneself is worthless. That condition is elaborated in verses 12-14. But the great contrast is verse 15: "But God will redeem my soul from the grave; He will surely take me to Himself."