NUMBERING OUR DAYS
Stories abound of people who having received a terminal diagnosis, decide to withdraw from the rat-race that characterize life, resign from their jobs, stop expanding their portfolios and decide to spend the rest of the days they have with what is most meaningful for them. A person seldom thinks of the brevity of life or the inevitable death that awaits. Yet, life is surely that. Moses says these timeless words about the not so timeless life of ours in Psalms 90,
“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (v12)
Surely this is not an advice that we would come across the plethora of self-help books and positive thinking manuals that are out there. And the reason we don’t hear about this is because, to be able to say these words, man has to have a certainty about his future after death. If there is nothing beyond the grave, why not enjoy life to the full, do whatever you want and satisfy every longing there is before the eventual nothingness that awaits? Yet for one who knows there is eternal life beyond the grave, life becomes meaningful and wisdom comes home.
The very fact that we long for eternity and live life as though we are invincible is because there is God’s spirit within every person and that is what makes us uniquely human. This creates the eternal longing within, which if not satisfied will lead to a restlessness that makes life chaotic. This eternal longing is satisfied when one moves from the darkness of pride and sin to the light of submission and life that only Christ can bring into our lives. And when Christ comes home, peace becomes real and we can go through the multiple variables life throws at us- the good and the bad, with the confidence that the certainty of eternal hope generates.
People do not wish to talk about death because there is a sense that living under the shadow of death is neither auspicious nor beneficial. As counterintuitive as it might seem, when one considers the brevity of life, and learns to number our days, we end up living better.
