Teach Us To Number Our Days

Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”

A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.

Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—they are like the new grass of the morning: In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.

We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.

You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.

Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Relent, Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.

May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.

Psalm 90:1-17

It’s hard to bear the burden of uncertainty, always wondering what the next test will reveal. Will we have weeks, months, years, or decades before death separates us? But regardless of disease and diagnosis, each of us will die one day-things like cancer just bring our mortality to the forefront instead of letting it hide in the recesses of our minds.

Faced with sobering reminders of our mortality, we find ourselves praying words that Moses once prayed. Though our lives are like grass that withers and fades, we have an eternal home with God. Like Moses, we can ask God to teach us to number our days so we can make wise decisions. We want to make our brief lives fruitful by making what we do for Him count. Ultimately, we are reminded that our hope is not in a doctor’s diagnosis, but in a God who is “from everlasting to everlasting.”

We can face the reality of our own mortality because we trust in God.

Our Daily Bread – May 8, 2017