“O LORD, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!
5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
Psalm 39:4-5
As we come to the end of another year, you may find yourself busy as ever. How presumptuous we live day in and day out thinking we have time to fit it all in. Perhaps the best part of the holiday season at the end of a calendar year is how God uses the hustle and bustle to speak loudly to us in just a simple whisper. The whisper comes through His Word reminding us that life is but a mist. (James 4:14) Reminding us that we are to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Ps. 90:12) Why is it that we can know these truths and yet our lives and time seem to be swallowed but such meaningless pursuits? This is the crux of the matter. Wisdom applied thinks not just about life from the human perspective but from the eternal perspective. While we live presumptuously God has decreed the number of days we should live and what those days will contain. He made us for His own glory and will accomplish His work in and through our lives. However, such verses are not written so that we would passively sit by attributing the successes or failures of our lives to the Almighty while apathetically fooling ourselves into thinking that we will not bear the fruit of our choices day in and day out.
Thus comes the cry from the Scriptures that we are to measure, count, and consider our days so that we might be disciplined by His grace for His glory and our good. May our heart’s prayer be that He would use us as living sacrifices day in and day out as we indeed put the flesh to death and seek to be renewed day by day as His Spirit promises to do. May we come to understand that our lives are but a breath and therefore instruct us on what needs to be done in the days ahead to clear the clutter of our lives and center us fully on Christ the eternal one who came from glory and dwelt amongst us. Who revealed who He is through His words and works and laid down His life, the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world. Yet He rose again and ascended to heaven where He sits at God’s right hand until He is told to return for His own.
May we dwell on this at the end of this year, to be wholly Christ’s and to surrender and yield to His work in our lives. One day when all is said and done and we stand before our great Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, may we see His faithful work in and through us, and may we not be ashamed because we heeded His words to know what is the measure of our days.
Recent Comments