Written by Jonny Ardavanis |
Friday, February 17, 2023
We consider the number in our retirement accounts, but have you considered the fleeting number of your days? Moses knows that time itself is like sand sifting through our fingers. We can try to grab hold of time, but the more we try to capture it, the more time evades us. In light of this reality, Moses pleads with God to grant him a proper perspective of life’s transience. Interestingly, stewarding our time and living for the glory of God doesn’t start with a long to-do list, it begins with a profound sense of satisfaction in the lovingkindness of God.
The predominant thrust of Wisdom Literature is to propel God’s people to think (1). This section of Scripture often instructs us to marvel at God’s character, to contemplate His ways, and to remember His faithfulness. Furthermore, this section challenges us to pursue the wisdom of God’s Word (Psalm 1:1-2), to walk in the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7), and provides many warnings to those who would reject and neglect God’s commandments and God’s ways (Prov. 1:28-33).
Although there are many themes in Wisdom Literature that are worthy of examination, the one that we will consider here is that of life’s brevity.
In Job 7:6-7, Job will say:
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle… my life is but a breath.— Job 7:6-7
In Ecclesiastes, the wealthiest and wisest man of all, King Solomon, will compound on the words of Job when he describes the vanity and futility of life. Furthermore, Solomon will detail that the length of our lives, although known to God, is completely unknown to us: “Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them.” (2)
Life itself is like a whisper spoken into the wind or like a candle, which after being blown out, has lingering smoke for but a brief moment and then disappears forever. The brother of Jesus will later testify to these very realities in the New Testament: “You don’t even know what your life will look like tomorrow.” (3)
As Christians, we are committed to living for the glory of God, but in order to do so, we must effectively evaluate and examine the fragility and fleeting nature of life. In his resolutions, Jonathan Edwards rightly valued the scarcity of time and prayed that the Lord would impress upon his conscience the necessity of viewing our time here on earth with a profound sense of stewardship. With the brevity of man’s days and the eternal nature of man’s soul in mind, Edwards would pray, “Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs.” Edwards refused to live for the temporary, but insisted on making this personal resolution:
Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
— Jonathan Edwards (4)
Edwards was an unusual man in this regard and that’s why he was used by God in an unusual way.
Have You Ever Asked the Question: “How can I Live My Short Life Well?”
To answer that question in brief, we will consider the 90th psalm. Although 90th in its placement, this is the first psalm to ever be written and the only one written by Moses.
What would uniquely qualify Moses to write a Psalm on life’s brevity, transiency, and fragility?
Well, to answer that question, we must consider a daily chore of Moses for ⅓ of his life: wandering around in the desert… doing funerals. If you recall, the people of Israel had disobeyed God and as a result, they were instructed to wander in the desert for 40 years until an entire generation died.
