Number My Days, Lord

A passage the Lord has put on my heart recently has been Psalm 90, a prayer of Moses. A lot of us have probably heard this specific prayer within it, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). David also writes in Psalm 39, “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure” (Psalm 39:4-5). End-of-life and getting older is a natural progression that reaches everyone at some point, the great equalizer. This theme of life being fleeting is seen time and time again in Scripture. When I think of my 15-month-old son Ezra, I think of how quickly he will no longer be just a little baby in my eyes. He’ll grow up, and now we, like all parents, are working to “enjoy it, because it goes by fast!”

We say it, we see it in scripture, but why is it so hard to internalize and believe that this life isn’t forever? We as humans naturally don’t like talking about the end of our lives, even though it’s inevitable. I believe once we come to grips with this reality, we can live life to the fullest. We can step into God’s plan for our lives, no matter how scary or impossible it may seem. “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them” (James 4:13-17).