In Psalm 90 Moses recorded the average length of the human life as 70 to 80 years, and he reminded us of God’s eternality. God existed before the world, and He, in fact is the One who created the wonder we see around us. Time was part of that creation, and though you and I are constrained by the limitations time imposes God is not. As our years accumulate we often encounter the need to adjust expectations for what we can and cannot do.
I like glazed donuts. A serving of donuts (three full-sized donuts with ½ inch holes) weighs much less than a pound. Yet, if I consume those three donuts today, the bathroom scale will tell me that I added four pounds overnight.
I therefore assume the role of hypocrite, follow a semi-strict diet, and avoid those donuts during the month before I visit my doctor. That man loves numbers—blood pressure, triglycerides, cholesterol, and weight to name a few. After each visit he emails a tote sheet with counts of stuff I never knew I had to worry about such as Ferritin, Free T4 Hormone, Creatinine and Alkaline PHOS. Good grief! Who knew a few donuts could cause such panic?
Seventy years seemed like an eternity when I reached age twenty-two but not so long a time span now that I’m frolicking through my sixties. Moses included this advice in the one Psalm attributed to him:
So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
Psalms 90:12 NASB
Numbers play a big role in our lives though Moses had a deeper idea in mind than a simple counting or a notching of the door frame with each of Earth’s trips around the solar system.
I pulled quotes from various authors who shared explanations as to what the phrase “number our days” might mean.
Albert Barnes – The prayer is, that God would instruct us to estimate our days aright: their number; the rapidity with which they pass away…the certainty that they must soon come to an end; their bearing on the future state of being.
Adam Clarke – Let us deeply consider our own frailty, and the shortness and uncertainty of life, that we may live for eternity, acquaint ourselves with Thee and be at peace; that we may die in Thy favor and live and reign with Thee eternally.
John Gill – Not merely to count them, how many they are, in an arithmetical way…nor is this to be understood of calculating or reckoning of time to come…but the sense is, that God would teach us seriously to meditate on, and consider of, the shortness of our days; that they are but as a shadow…
Matthew Henry – We must live under a constant apprehension of the shortness and uncertainty of life and the near approach of death and eternity. We must so number our days as to compare our work with them, and mind it accordingly with a double diligence, as those that have no time to trifle…We then number our days to good purpose when thereby our hearts are inclined and engaged to true wisdom, that is, to the practice of serious godliness.
John MacArthur – Evaluate the use of time in light of the brevity of life.
Charles Swindoll – Life is so short. We don’t have many years, and to spend them doing meaningless things seem so foolish and like such a waste. It haunts the person who really wants to count. But in the menial assignments of life, God reminds us that He owns our lives. He has a purpose in what seems to be purposeless. Since every day is a gift from God, live each day enthusiastically for Him. Do not live for your circumstances, because they may become grim. Do not live only for yourself, because that will inevitably cave in on you. Live for God—live to present to Him a heart of wisdom. When you live each day for God and adopt an attitude that honors Him, He will give you joy that you can’t believe.
John Wesley – Teach us to consider the shortness of life, and the certainty and speediness of death.
The New Living Translation’s rendering of this verse suggests the same idea.
Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.
Psalms 90:12 NLT
Number our days. Know that the sum is a finite number though I cannot know the exact tally. Acceptable alternatives to the word number in the context include:
- Measure
- Keep an accounting
- Use wisely
- Invest prudently
- Realize the preciousness
As a retiree I better make hay while the sun shines. I must focus on and accomplish the purposes God has for my life though often that adventure becomes harder as the years increase.
Despite mountains of medical advances, and no matter the plethora of bodily chemical levels doctors track, maladies with no readily-defined cause or cure still plague us. The medicos wag their heads, stare at the floor, and offer apologies. At best symptom control becomes their focus.
Some years back I was diagnosed as “suffering from Meniere’s disease.” I learned that catch-all term implies, “Our expensive tests, for which your insurance company will not pay, show clearly that your vestibular system is broken, and we don’t know why. You do not have garden-variety positional vertigo, but you do suffer from unexplained vertigo. We can offer no clue as to the cause. We have no cure. Be prepared to adjust your lifestyle accordingly.”
Ready or not the aging process brings changes. What do we do when our bodies no longer function as expected? Quit? Give up? Assume God is finished with us and that we have no further contribution to make to the Kingdom?
A recent visit to the doctor included a discussion of life adjustments I must make. He stated clearly there is nothing medical he can provide and offered a recommendation to a counselor who might help me cope with the changes. Maybe some time, Doc, but for now I’ll keep pushing forward. The advice from the Marines seems useful here: improvise, adapt, and overcome.
At Shawn’s request I sold my two-story extension ladder (a monstrously heavy 28 footer) and along with it the temptation to maintain the high gutters along the back of the house. We found a young guy who works the neighborhood and signed up for his subscription service. In less time than I would need to erect a ladder and climb to the gutters on shaking knees, he is done and gone. Seems a wise solution.
I had a conversation with a retired friend who has been a rock star battling back from a stroke. We discussed the telescoping walking stick that I carry on my daily walks. I explained about the vertigo and how my wife takes comfort that I carry the stick in case I need an assist when I’m walking alone. My friend needs a cane to walk securely but felt sheepish about using it. Instead he quit walking. After our talk he knows that he is not alone in the aging struggle. What a joy to see him, cane in hand, stepping down the sidewalk.
Quit or adjust? It is an individual choice.
Improvise, adapt, and overcome.
Number my days wisely.
Indeed.
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