Teach Us To Count Our Days
Lord,
you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were
brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting
to everlasting you are God.
You
turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.” For a thousand years
in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
You
sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the
morning; in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades
and withers.
For
we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed. You have set
our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years
come to an end like a sigh. The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps
eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they
are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who
considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is
due you. So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
Turn,
O LORD! How long? Have compassion on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning
with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make
us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have
seen evil. Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power
to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper
for us the work of our hands – O prosper the work of our hands!
Psalm 90:1-17
We
all can do what we believe will give us longer lives. Some of us exercise. Some
of us eat properly. Some of us make sure our personal and professional lives
are balanced with a godly life spent in time reading our Bibles. All are
important. But the fact is, we came from dust and we will return to dust. It is
just a matter of time. What is important is not the length of our time on
earth, but what we do with that time.
We
should trust ourselves to Jesus, who promises to join us to the timeless life
of God. The followers of Jesus Christ live in the assurance that when the sun
has burned its last and the stars have fallen from the sky, we will still be
alive, eternally. We anticipate a life greater than anything we could imagine
in our wildest dreams.
This life is but the childhood of our immortality.
Our Daily Bread –