Psalm 90 (Teach Us To Number Our Days)
Song Devotional
Teach Us to Number Our Days
An older gentleman I know has an unusual habit.
Every day, he calculates his age, in days. For example, when I met him at a dinner party, he would inform me that today he is 24,186 days old.
That is a sobering habit.
The Bible says that for most of us, we are only given seventy or eighty years.(1) Like a vapor, we appear for a moment and then vanish away.(2) Most of us can't believe how quickly time is passing in front of our eyes.
And the last time I checked, the death rate is still 100%.
Every person (unless Christ returns first) is appointed to die.(3)
We can't escape...
...no matter how much money we have in our bank account
...no matter how much we accomplish
...no matter how many green vegetables we eat.
Randy Alcorn powerfully describes it this way:
Suppose for a moment that your home is in France and you are visiting America for 80 days and are living in a hotel. Here is the rule: You can’t take anything back to France on your flight home, but you can earn money and wire deposits back to your bank in France. Would you fill your hotel room with extravagant gifts and expensive wall hangings? No! Your time here is short, so you send your treasures on home, where they will be waiting for you when you arrive.
We are not Home yet.
Are you spending the few precious days you've been given working for things that will ultimately be burned? In our heart of hearts, we know that cars, houses, pleasure, fame and worldly accomplishments will leave us empty in the end.
Are you investing each day in light of the life to come?
I made a little sign that sits on our counter so I can often read the familiar words:
Only one life, twill soon be past,
Only what's done for Christ will last.
Loving God and knowing that He loved us first,(4) worshiping God for His amazing kindness to us in the cross and laying our lives down to love people and build His kingdom will prove to be a wise investment of our lives that lasts into all eternity. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”(5)
Psalm 90 is considered by many to be the oldest Psalm in the Bible and was a prayer of Moses. In light of the brevity of life, Moses asked the Lord to, “teach us to number our days that we might present to you a heart of wisdom.”(6)
And today, we can pray the same heartfelt prayer:
Lord, teach us to number our days. Amen.
1) Psalm 90:10
2) James 4:14
3) Hebrews 9:27
4) 1 John 4:19
5) 1 Corinthians 10:31
6) Psalm 90:12
Psalm 90 (Teach Us to Number Our Days) Lyrics
Lord, through all generations
You have been our Home
Long before You made the mountains
Or You brought forth the world
From everlasting to everlasting
You are God
Teach us to number our days
That we might present to You a heart of wisdom (2x)
Lord, let Your beauty and favor
Rest upon us
Lord, as we live and we labor
Bless the work of our hands
From everlasting to everlasting
You are God
Teach us to number our days
That we might present to You a heart of wisdom (2x)
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