Teach Me to Number My Days

Recently as part of my quiet time I read Psalm 90:12-17.  This passage begins, "Teach us to number our days. .  . . ."  After reading this passage in the NIV, I went to The Message to read verse 12.  In my copy of the Message I had previously underlined not only Verse 12, but Verse 10.  Verse 10 from The Message reads, "We live for seventy years or so (with luck we might make it to eighty) and what do we have to show for it?  Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard."

This verse has given me pause to consider before and now again during my quiet time. Perhaps it's because I've lived my seventy years and I'm now working my way toward eighty so I want to make every day count.

And so I ask, "How do I number my days?  How do I make every day count for something?" I believe the rest of this passage helps answer that question.  Verse 14 of Psalm 90 reads, "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." (NIV) What better way to number my days then to begin every day than in God's Word?  

Verse 16 tells us to live so that others will see the work God is doing and how He blesses His children.  As the Psalm ends, David asks that God affirm the work we do.  Isn't that what our goal should be, that others will see God at work in our lives and especially that God affirm our work?  

As I thought about this that morning, I read I Corinthians 15:58b which gives us yet further understanding, "Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

The Message says it this way, "Throw yourself into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort."

If everything we do is done with the purpose of pointing others to God, reflecting Him in our life and our work, our day will not be wasted and I believe that is the best way to make every day count.  

Thank you God for Your Word and how you can answer our every question as we study. Amen.