The Days of Our Lives

The Days of Our Lives
“For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” - Psalm 90:9-12 ESV

So far, I have lived for approximately 11,719 days give or take a few for leap years. I don’t know how many days I have left on this planet. No one does. Sometimes we think of our lives in terms of years, yet our lives are lived one day at a time. That gives us a day at a time to make this life worth something. Not looking out towards the distant future, but one day at a time. When we are little, everything seems like it is so far away. We can’t wait to hit double digits; then we can wait to be teenagers; then we can’t wait to start driving; then we can’t wait until we are18; then we can’t wait to drink; we can’t wait until our insurance goes down at 25; then we start to want to pump the breaks a little bit as we approach age 30; the we cross over the 30 mark and barrel down towards our mid thirties; then here comes 40; and so on and so on, if you are fortunate enough to keep going. But each of these milestones in life was a day. And there were a bunch of days before it that we had to live. But how we live those days is up to us.
In Psalm 90, Moses is actually teaching us how to be fruitful with whatever number of days God gives us. He says that we may get 70 or 80 years if we are lucky in this life and some of those days are spent in toil and trouble. But if we can learn to consider God during those days, then we can gain a heart of wisdom to use our time on this earth in an productive way. And I am not just talking about what we do for a living. I am talking about spending our time on what actually matters.
This past week, we experienced natural disasters that we don’t normally see in my area; an earthquake, tornados and a hurricane. For some, these event will just pass by as just another day. But for 9 people at least in the path of hurricane Irene, their lives were cut short. One of them was an 11 year old boy. He didn’t live to see 4,380 days. For those 9 people, their days on this earth ended. We always hear the saying about it’s not about the date you are born and the date you die, but what you do with the “dash” in between. But that’s usually saved for things like funerals when the people sometimes take a moment to actually reflect on their life and what they do with it. But I think that for us to do what we are called to do on this earth and live on purpose, we need to think, not in terms of years of our lives, but the ‘days” of our lives. And we need to do it often, not just at a funeral.
For some, the “Days” of their lives are drama (ha, ha - pun intended). Filled with useless arguments, wasted opportunities, unspoken words, deep regrets and painful memories. For others, each day is a new chance to make their lives a little better by living in it. Moses‘ prayer was to have God teach us to number our days in order that we get a heart of wisdom. There is wisdom in making every day of your life count for something. There is wisdom in not always putting things off for a future that may never come, but using the time you have wisely. There is wisdom in making the most of every day you are given and moving on from past hurts and disappointments and mistakes. If you learn to number your days, it may sound depressing, but you might find that you begin to live your life more purposeful. I have a lot of good memories in my 11,719 days lived on this planet. I have some bad memories in those same number of days. But if I look at it in terms of days, I feel better about the bad ones, because the good ones far outweigh the bad. And every day that God gives me is a day to make it a good one. Somehow, some way, I can make some good happen daily.
Living life one day at a time is wise. And Moses also said that it seemed like no one considered God’s power during their time on this earth. How many days do you consider how powerful God is? How many days of your life do you spend worried about how strong the enemy is, or has been in your life? How many days of your life will you spend lamenting over how much someone else hurt you? How long will you not consider how strong God is to bring you to another day, where you have the most powerful force in the universe on your side? How many days will you continue to waste on things that are beneath who you are in Christ?
The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. But that does not mean that you are afraid of God. It means that you know how powerful and strong He is, and you are grateful that He is on your side. Grateful that He has given you His spirit to be your guide. Grateful that He has promised to be with you all the days of your life. Grateful that every day, you are forgiven for not being perfect. Grateful that in Christ, you are perfected everyday. No matter how many or how few days you have. God is with you everyday. He is on your side everyday. You can talk to Him everyday. You can embrace your “true” self everyday. You can cast off fear everyday. You can walk in faith everyday. And if you mess it up, you can try again tomorrow if He gives you another day. But don’t take your days for granted. You don’t know how many you have. So make today count.