“So teach us to number our days that we might get a heart of wisdom.” -Psalm 90:12
Only God knows the number of our days. He actually knows exactly how many we have left on this Earth! It only makes sense then, to ask Him, “What would you have me do with the days you’ve given me?”
The scriptures warn us of assuming that we know how many days we have left, or what we will do with them.
“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance.” -James 4:13-16
Jesus told a parable about trusting in our possessions, our plans, and the foolishness of assuming that we know how things will go, or how many days we have left here on this Earth.
“And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’” -Luke 12:16-21
“This night your soul is required of you!”
Words like this should stop us in our tracks. We aren’t the captain of our ship, God is. Every breath, every heartbeat, is decided by God.
“Yes, teach us to number our days! For who else knows how many we have left, but you, Lord God Almighty!”
It matters not whether you’re 20 or 80. Your days are numbered by God.
“And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.” -Psalm 139:16
God has ordained days for you, and He’s numbered them.
“Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment.” -Hebrews 9:27
Ordained days for you to live, and appointed a day for you to die and to come to judgment.
The staggering reality of this fact arrests my attention and humbles me.
“So teach us to number our days that we might get a heart of wisdom.” -Psalm 90:12