“They grow up fast!” How many times have you heard an older person share that wisdom with the parents of young children? And it’s true. One minute you’re teaching your child how to tie his shoes, and in the blink of an eye, he’s dashing off to college. Life passes quickly!
The prophet Moses understood the brevity of life.
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is only trouble and tragedy;
For it quickly passes, and we disappear.
Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
So teach us to number our days (Psalm 90:10-12 emphasis mine).
Considering Moses wrote these words “moved by the Holy Spirit” we can be assured that God meant for us to apply this passage to our lives.
Perhaps the start of a new year is a good time to pause and examine our efforts at numbering our days. British pastor Matthew Henry (1662-1714) has some helpful insight about what it means to number our days.
“We must live under a constant apprehension of the shortness and uncertainty of life and the near approach of death and eternity. We must so number our days as to compare our work with them, and mind it accordingly with a double diligence, as those that have no time to trifle.”
There’s a richness in those two sentences that demands some reflection. (He has much more to say on the subject in his commentary.)
Do we live with an awareness of “the uncertainty of life and the near approach of death and eternity?” Do we approach each day with holy carefulness? It’s easy to live as if life here is endless, but of course that’s ignoring reality.
Years ago, I watched an old western called “High Noon.” The storyline had outlaws coming back into town to take revenge on the marshal. As he awaited their arrival, there was the sound of a tension-building clock. The continuous ticking of a clock was threaded throughout the film.
Today – for you and me – there’s another clock ticking. It too brings a certain amount of tension with it. Considering we have a reverence for our King, it’s a weighty thing when we understand that He expects us to “number our days.”
Our soul hears that clock ticking, and we feel the responsibility to be careful to use our time wisely. We know that we have a small window of time to pour our hearts into those things that matter – loving God, and loving others.
It’s a tall order for us. But there’s good news: we don’t have to do it on our own.
I find it encouraging that God’s call for us to number our days comes inside a prayer. In the Psalm 90 prayer, notice that Moses is pleading with God to teach him and God’s people how to number their days. So, we can do this. We won’t do it perfectly, but we can do it … because God will help us.
