How Many Days?

“Let me know my end, LORD. How many days do I have left? I want to know how brief my time is. You’ve made my days so short; my lifetime is like nothing in your eyes. Yes, a human life is nothing but a puff of air!” Selah Psalm 39:4-5 (CEB)

While playing in the sand with my grandson, Bryson on a breezy day recently, I lifted by handful of sand and just let it fall to be carried on the wind. As the sand filtered through my fingers and the breeze pushed it away from me, I found myself repeating a tag line from an old day time TV show. I’ll bet a number of you recognize it……”like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives.” Does that sound a bit familiar? If not, maybe the scene of Dorothy watching the Wicked Witch of the West’s hourglass count away the minutes of her life as it was threatened by the witch.

Our days do fly by! I thought so as I watched my children grow, marry and have their own children, but my goodness, the days go by faster as the grandchildren are growing! In the blink of an eye life rushes on.

The number of our days that remain isn’t essential, however; how we spend them is crucial! There is life and there is quality of life. Quality of life comes through God. He makes our lives extraordinary. He makes life worth living!

As you go about your life today, remember the verse. We should meditate on the measure of our days and how we can bring glory and honor to the Father with our remaining days. Our desire should be to leave behind a legacy of a Christian life, an example for others to follow. Just as David says in the Psalm above, life is but a puff of air and too shortly gone.

Ephesians 5:15-16 speaks about it this way: “So be careful to live your life wisely, not foolishly. Take advantage of every opportunity because these are evil times.” Make your days count for Christ, don’t count your days.

This excerpt from the poem , Only One Life, Twill Soon Be Past, is a perfect ending for today’s devotion.

Only what’s done for Christ will last. Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting hours be done; Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, And stand before His Judgement seat; Only one life,’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

C.T.Studd