Psalms 6:5
5 For in death [maveth] there is no remembrance [zeker] of thee: in the grave [sha'owl] who shall give thee thanks [yadah]? KJV-Interlinear
5 For there is no mention of Thee in death; In Sheol who will give Thee thanks? NASB
This psalm addresses life and all of the burdens and opportunities that accompany life. Life is not easy. Opportunity in this world does not exist in the permanent sense.
And when we cross over into the realm of death, then all that we had is left behind. Our contact with life, with our senses, with the opportunities of the spiritual life, in this life, vanish and are gone, when we are gone.
In death, in the grave, are expressions that describe our absence from life. And our relationship with God, that is to say, our opportunity to develop a relationship with God, vanishes in death.
You have only life, life in this world, in which you may develop a relationship with God.
For some it may be just a few years, for others it may be several decades, but nevertheless, whatever your defined lifespan comes out to be, you have only this life to grow up in your spiritual life.
After death, your opportunity to learn and to grow, ceases.
Now, remember that as a believer, you will go to heaven and live there forever. In that regard, you will be learning and experiencing new things forever. But this psalm is not addressing that.
In this life, you have the opportunity to grow in your spiritual life, in order to prepare yourself for eternity. And that includes advancing in your spiritual life for the purpose of receiving eternal reward. That reward credit, does not develop after death. In death, it all stops and you go to heaven with whatever spiritual assets you acquire in this life.
In death who will remember? Who will be able to apply their spiritual knowledge in life? Who will give thanks? Who will function in the spiritual life as an observance of thanks and humility to God?
Death has many meanings in the Bible, and this death is primarily associated with the dust residue that is left behind. Now then, what dust can remember? None. What dust can function? None. What dust can give things? None. What dust can grow up? None. What dust can earn reward? None.
Right now your link with life is from your soul, through the physical body that God gave you. You have intellect, eyesight, hearing, the sense of touch and taste and such things. And your access to this world is through those attributes.
Likewise, your access to God is through your spiritual attributes, through the spiritual senses (so to speak) that God has provided you. Namely, salvation through faith, spirituality through confession, growth through doctrine, production through application of that doctrine to your daily life.
In death, that all goes away.
In life, the opportunity to define your eternal life, exists. In death that opportunity stops.
In life, you can make choices to study or not. In death, even that choice, ends.
In life, your eternal future opportunity exceeds the imagination. That is a huge benefit and blessing.
In death, the opportunity to acquire that blessing, stops.
Therefore, David pleads with God, ‘Do not take me away in death, because that will end a phenomenal opportunity for me. And that opportunity means more than anything, because it extends into eternity, the value of which is beyond calculation. And, I do not want to lose that.’
You shouldn’t either.
How does that commercial go? ‘A mind is a terrible thing to waste.’
But in reality, ‘a spiritual life and spiritual opportunity are infinitely more valuable and a far greater potential loss, if ignored.’
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