Verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” Psalm 39:5 KJV
Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Psalm 39:5 NASB
Four times over in this Psalm, David says, “surely” (vv 5 [verily], 6, 6, 11). The first occasion is in verse 5 and translated “verily.” David is not considering the average man; he is thinking of a man at his best state, at the prime of life and at the pinnacle of his career and accomplishments. Yet even here, he has to own that he is vanity. His infirmity (vv 1-3), his frailty (v 4), and brevity (v 4), all combine to force this conclusion upon his mind. 
But think of another Man, a unique Man. He is chiefest or conspicuous among 10,000. He is unlike every other man who has ever moved on planet earth. Look at Him, at what men would call his “worst state” (but to us at His best state), suspended upon a tree; forsaken by every friend He had made, every person He had helped, every life He had touched. Rejected by His nation; scorned and mocked by His captors. He hangs in apparent weakness and defeat upon a cross of shame. Add to this immeasurable suffering and grief, the awesome reality of divine judgment unerringly and unreservedly falling on this victim at Calvary, and we see a Man at the lowest point imaginable. Here then is a Man at His “worst state.” Is He altogether vanity? No! Altogether lovely! (SofS 5:16)
Every grace and beauty that can be seen is shining out from the darkness of Calvary. While we key on His love to us, think of His devotion to the Father’s will, His desire to bring pleasure to the Father’s heart, and His total dependence in His hours of forsaking. The cross, the “worst moment,” only served to act as a dark background upon which the beauty of His person could be displayed.
Another has penned these words:
Pressure intense reveals anew
Inner perfections gleaming through;
As in His path for God so true,
Still the devoted One!