Your Days are Numbered
Psalm 90:12 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
We know, you and I, that our days on this earth are numbered. We know that one day, we’re going to breathe our last breath. We know that one day, our heart will stop beating and that will be it, for our time here.
We know that, but mostly, we behave as though we’re going to live for ever. Somehow we put the idea that we’re going to die, out of our mind and we live mostly, for today.
The things of today, tomorrow and perhaps next week are what occupy our minds. As a former soldier, I like the expression ‘down in the weeds’ – it’s this sense that you can’t see the big picture, because you’re, well, down in the weeds.
Having navigated through many a swamp in my days in the military, it’s something I really relate to. Because when you’re down there, you can’t easily stick your head up and look around.
So, the cares and the pressures of this world take over, and it feels as though all that matters is what’s going on right now. The problems, the hurts, the conflicts, the joys, the pleasures that we have going on, right now.
But I believe God wants us to stick our heads up and get a sense of the big picture. Because when you take a look at the big picture of your life, it puts today into context. Maybe the things that we have going on right now aren’t all there is. Maybe, they’re a lot smaller, a lot less significant, in the bigger scheme of things.
The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:9-10)
That’s the truth of the matter. That’s what’s going to happen. So what God wants you to do today is to stand back and look at the things that are happening in your life today, in context:
So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. (Psalm 90:12)
Hmm, what’s He trying to say here? Quite simply this: count your days, they’re limited. If I live to the average age for a male which is 82, I have just 25 birthdays left. That’s around 9,125 days – under 10,000.
In one way, that’s not all that many. From another perspective, it’s rather a lot. What am I going to do with the days that I have left? What are you going to do with the days you have left? Will they count? Will the lives of the people around you be better for having known you?
You start asking those sorts of questions, and you’re lifting your head out of the weeds. You start asking those sort of questions, you’ll develop some serious wisdom of the heart.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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