“So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12 (ESV)
It’s tempting to envy Jeanne Calment, a French woman who took up fencing at 85 and still rode a bicycle at 100. She lived 122 years and 164 days—a total of 44,724 days.
If I live to be 80, I have 7,057 days to go (as I write this). That’s out of a life span of 29,200 days. Subtract days if I don’t make it to 80. If I live to be 70, I have 3,407 days to go. If I die at the end of this year, I have 268 days remaining.
That sort of “arithmetic of days” may have some value, but it’s probably not what Moses had in mind when he asked God to teach him to “number his days.” We don’t know how many days we have. God knows—it’s one of his secrets.
What we do know is that every one of us has a terminal illness, called mortality. Death looms ahead, and we’re racing toward it. Imagine you’re told you have one year left to live, at most two. Imagine you don’t despair. Imagine you still have some strength. And imagine you have significant work to pour yourself into: building a house, making a garden, writing a book, training a child, winning a neighbor to Christ. It’s a race with time.
Something like that is where you’re really at—whether you’re eighteen or eighty. Your days are precious, limited, and redeemable. This day—the day you’re in right now—is one of them.
Moses knew all this—so do you—but was aware he needed to know it better. He asked God’s help to see and feel the rush of days toward an appointed end, the ripeness of opportunity today. “So teach us to number our days…”
First published in Faithwalkers, a publication of Great Commission Churches