It puts things in perspective to compare our brief lives to the eternity of God. Generations come and go, mountains rise, and we return to dust … but God remains “from eternity to eternity.” Our lives are defined by time, but His is outside of it.
 
One thing I love about this Psalm is its raw truthfulness about the limits of our earthly existence. Our days are limited, and our sins are exposed before God. Even a long human life is a flash in the pan. We spend our days and enormous amounts of energy in self-protection, extending our influence, and trying to control whatever comes next. But the Psalmist reminds us we are creatures whose days are gifted to us.

Though we might expect this reality to elicit a response of despair, he instead asks for wisdom. “Teach us to number our days carefully.” He knows life is brief, but it isn’t meaningless. It teaches us to receive our days as a gift, entrusted to us by the eternal God.
At its close, the Psalm wraps up by asking God to show His favor and establish the work of His people’s hands. For a people living between times, this is an important prayer. We can’t in any way make our lives more permanent, but we can faithfully use the days God gives us and trust Him with their lasting significance.  

Trusting God with our days and with their fruitfulness frees us from frantic and pressured living. We don’t have to complete every task we think is in front of us. We need His wisdom to remain faithful with the time God has actually placed in our hands.

How can the awareness of the limited nature of our days produce anxiety rather than wisdom? How have you experienced faithful stewardship of the days God has given you?

Father, I know my days are limited, but you aren’t. Forgive me for living as though everything depends on my ability to control time and outcomes. Teach me to number my days wisely and establish what is pleasing to You as I put my hands to work. Help me to entrust to You everything both within and beyond my reach. Amen.

“One way I can use the days God has given me more faithfully is __________________.”