Numbered Days, Eternal Ways

“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 return man to dust
    and say, ‘Return, O children of man!’
For a thousand years in your sight
    are but as yesterday when it is past,
    or as a watch in the night.

You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning:
in the morning it flourishes..;
    in the evening it fades and withers.

For we are brought to an end by your anger…
You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.

For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
The years of our life are seventy,
    or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away…

So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom…
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!” Psalm 90:1-10,12,14-17

Moses understood the grand distinction between God’s eternal and man’s transient natures. This timeless Creator, infinite and wholly God from everlasting to everlasting, was the exquisite abode for man stained by the fall and limited in days. His all-encompassing sovereignty ordered and measured the finite years of His children, and Moses longed to make the most of them with wisdom and meaningful work. Under God’s favor and establishing, he could be satisfied in Him and rejoice in His ways.

In the stress and push of daily life, we can forget our place in generations and eternity. Satan’s potent ruse is to blind man to eternal significance and accountability, to cause the urgent and temporary to be most vital and all-consuming. Days can speed by without our taking thought of God’s mercies each morning and His gift of rest and renewal every night. We go about the grind of work without considering how it fits into His larger kingdom scheme or even bears on His honor. Years can pass without our thanking Him for His faithful sustenance and the continuity of life through births and deaths. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

When we recognize He has been our dwelling place, above and upholding all things, we can see our days in a glorious continuum of His ways, and delight to take part. How can we add wisdom and significance to our moments and hours? What will we invest anew to make the most of every conversation, duty, and service to others? What fresh joy will we take in God our dwelling place? (Colossians 1:16-17)

Lord, may I flourish and bear fruit all my days, to Your glory. (Psalm 92:12-14)