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Daily Devotions with Pastor Chuck

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Moses wrote in Psalm 90,

“As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years. Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10 – NASB)

When Moses wrote these words he was near the end of his life, some 120 years old. But the rest of the people of Israel, except for Joshua and Caleb, were not over 60 years of age. The forty-year wandering in the wilderness had come to an end and a generation of people had died off, having been chastised by God to wander because of their sin, their unbelief, their lack of faith.

We know that in days prior to the wilderness wandering people had lived way beyond the “seventy” and “eighty years” that Moses wrote about in his psalm. Adam died at 930, and of course we read of many others whose life-span seems most remarkable to us in this day in which we live. After the Flood though age periods began to dwindle down. Noah lived to be 950 but Shem only lived to 600. Abraham died at 175 years old.

By the time Moses wrote his psalm the average life span was down to 70 to 80 years. And what is noteworthy, his prophecy continues well into our day. Even though great advances have been made in the world of medicine and other health related sciences, and even though we hear often of folks hitting the 90’s or the century mark in age, the average life-span of a person today, as taken from a UN World Population report, is 71.0 years (68.5 for men and 73.5 for women).

Remarkable, is it not? The Word of God . . . speaks to us, saying, “the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years.” Remarkable! As Dr. Henry Morris writes, “This figure has stayed about the same, and there seems to be little the gerontologists can do to increase it.”

I’m 66 years old, by God’s grace. So I look at this Psalm and what it says to me and I realize that I am not far from the day when I will “fly away.” Ah yes, “fly away” into the loving arms of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! My soul, my spirit, will be released from this corruption to put on incorruption . . . and I will “fly away” to a Kingdom that has no end! Till then . . .

“So teach us to number our days, that we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12 – NASB)

May we strive, in the time our Father gives us, to do His bidding, do His will, live as disciples of Christ (Philippians 1:21, 23) . . . learning “to number our days,” to be aware of their brevity here on earth, and seek first and foremost the Kingdom of God, where time will not be a matter of concern, days will not have to be “numbered.”

Have a good day. . . and as you walk learn to number your days and make the most of them for the Kingdom of God.