TEACH US TO NUMBER OUR DAYS

We only really number the items in our lives that we value the most. Therefore, to count something is to take quality as well as quantity into account. When we have an abundance then we don’t care to know how much of it we have and it can lead to a spirit of carelessness or neglect.

What do you value most and account as very precious in your life today? The Lord taught that our most valuable possession is our ‘soul’, Matt. 16. 24-26. This He clearly links with the way in which we spend our lives.

This psalm contrasts aspects of the nature of God with those of men, and in particular His eternity against the brevity of our lives, vv. 2, 10. Moses, the author, considers the generation that fell in the wilderness, 1 Cor. 10. 5. He had, under God’s hand, brought them out of Egypt with potential to inherit their Promised Land. The actuality had proved to be so different. The years had been characterized by rebellion and unbelief resulting in discipline and trouble, vv. 7-9. The judgement of God made it a generation that would not enter into His rest, Heb. 3. 17-19.

What a waste of human lives, and their treasures lay strewn behind them on the floor of the desert. Forty years that were unfruitful and unfulfilling for them and for their God. This psalm is Moses’ lament over wanderings that should never have happened.

Saint of God, are you brave enough to take a look today over the years that lie behind you?, see 2 Tim. 4. 7, 8. Just how much of your life in Christ will outlast time and stand the test of the divine fire at ‘that day’?, see 1 Cor. 3. 13-15; 2 Cor. 5. 10.

The final part of the psalm gives us a glimpse of what should be a profitable outcome of our day-by-day experience with God. In response to the heartfelt plea to, ‘Return, O Lord’, v. 13, we shall then see His work appear, His glory unto our children and His beauty upon us, vv. 16, 17. What more could we ask for? These alone are what real day-by-day quality living is about. These are the lives that count.

Take up today as a precious gift, yield it to the giver, apply your heart to wisdom and make it a profitable day today.