Counting Days

Psalm 90

A prayer of Moses the man of God.

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born
    or you brought forth the whole world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You turn people back to dust,
    saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
4 A thousand years in your sight
    are like a day that has just gone by,
    or like a watch in the night.
5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
    they are like the new grass of the morning:
6 In the morning it springs up new,
    but by evening it is dry and withered.

7 We are consumed by your anger
    and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
    we finish our years with a moan.
10 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.
11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
12 Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

The Psalm chosen for this morning tells us a couple things that we already know. First, it reminds us that God is eternal. And second, it reminds us that we are not. Seems obvious but the implications of these reminders are sometimes lost on us. Yesterday I played two games of flag football and since I have been working out, I thought my recovery time wouldn’t be that bad. And like this scripture reminds us that we are only mere mortals, my body is reminding me that I am almost 33 years old. Like, I have been holding in coughs if I can because it hurts my ribs if I don’t. When I was 30, I thought I could do this 5 more years and I am in better physical shape now than I was then and when I woke up this morning my body was reminding me that making it to 35 and playing flag football against kids 15 years to my junior may be a bad idea. As we age, there are more and more reminders like this that constantly remind us that we aren’t immortal. I don’t have to tell most of you that, I’m sure. However, this only stresses the importance of why God is eternal.

As we get older, our strength and cognitive skills start to fade. However, the strength of God’s love and grace will never do this. Why is that important? Because God’s love and grace are limitless since they are eternal. These daily reminders of our own mortality are matched, and even exceeded, by God’s eternal willingness to love us. This is where hope is derived from. Aging is a difficult thing and it affects each of us differently, but there is hope found in knowing that God’s love for us is unwavering. God is with us in our twenties when we may make some bad decisions. He is with us in our 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s when we struggle through parenting. He is there is our 60’s and 70’s when we are thinking about retirement. He is with us when we get towards the end of our lives. At times, it may feel like He is more absent than present but God is there. At different stages in our lives, we encounter different struggles so the hope of God’s love and grace is there to carry us through if we decide to find support it in.

What I appreciate most about this Psalm in particular is the fact that wisdom can be found in taking each day as a gift no matter our age. The brevity of life is literally like a dream that comes and goes in the night. The metaphor of the new grass that sprouts in the morning and withers by evening really hits home and reminds us of our mortality. These constant reminders can be scary. This Psalm offers us some great  advice to help handle these fears, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”  I don’t think counting down or numbering our days is the intention here.  In other words, I don’t think the psalmist is wanting us to number or count down the days we have left.  In living that way, we live out of the fear of our mortality.  I think the purpose of this scripture is to emphasize the importance of each day.  Don’t count the days.  Instead, make the days count.  It seems incredibly cliche but it is so true.  Sure, we will have days that we would like to forget.  We will have days that we did not make count but if we learn from days like that, then they still mean something.  

So, what does this mean in terms of our faith?  On one hand, we are faced with our own mortality and on the other, we find God’s enduring and eternal love which provides hope.  I have said this before, but will reiterate it here: the Christian life is best served with one eye searching the heavens while the other is constantly seeking ways to benefit those around them on earth.  Balance is best.  This means making concessions at times but it also means standing firm at other times.  It means that we must be open to the idea of constantly improving ourselves.  Just imagine a world where folks are more concerned about their neighbor than being correct.  Imagine a world where people were more willing to know someone’s story than impressing upon them their own beliefs.  Imagine a world where we all made each day count.  In this Psalm, there is a lot of talk about fear, wrath, anger, sorrow and trouble which doesn’t paint a very pretty picture.  However, life is pretty occupied by those things.  The psalmist is speaking from raw emotion on the struggles of life.  All of which I think each of us can identify with.  So why continue?  Why push through the fear, the anger, the sorrow?  God’s eternal hope is why.  

Lastly, sharing these struggles is of the utmost importance because this is how others see God at work.  We may not share exactly the root of our struggles but fellowship with others who struggle has a healing power.  For example, I had no idea how many relatives and close friends have struggled with pregnancy loss.  I know that nothing can bring closure to such a devastating situation but for those who have experienced it, sharing with others must help.  It helps the healing process.  My heart aches for those who have experienced such a moment in their lives and it helps me to see what a miracle a healthy birth truly is.  We could delve into the fairness of such a topic but that is not the point here.  Whatever your struggle, sorrow, fear or trouble someone else has experienced it and someone may benefit from your story.  Tell it.  Make the days count.  Our mortality is not something to be afraid of. Rather it is what unifies us.  It is what makes each of us human.  It is what makes each of us dependant on the eternal love of God.