By Chris WittsSaturday 11 Nov 2023Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
Subscribe to Morning Devotions podcast
Transcript:
I wonder if you’ve thought about this little phrase – Life is fragile. It’s a very simple statement, but it’s true. Time flies. Life is short, except when you’re young, perhaps, and then you see your life is never going to end.
But as we get older, we pick up sickness and illness, and we realise that death is going to be a reality one day. Hopefully not for a long time to come. Throughout the world, Statistics shows that one person dies every 1.78 seconds. That’s a frightening statistic, isn’t it? Kind of brings you up with a jolt in our culture. We find ways to ignore facts like this. We’d rather numb ourselves with being busy or entertain ourselves or taking a long holiday or anything except thinking how short our life is.
So we need to come to grips with questions like, “Does my life have meaning and significance? What is my purpose?”
And so I think we have a dilemma here. Life is short and we are in danger of living our lives without that meaning. Sometimes we face problems that cause feelings of despair, or desperation. I wonder if that’s ever happened to you.
I heard of an 83-year-old lady who looked back on her life, and she used to write her feelings in a diary. And here’s what she said. “One day I’m reading more and dusting less. I’m sitting in the yard. I admire the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden.”
“I wear my good clothes to the market. I put on my special perfume for every day. Words like some day and one of those days are losing their grip in my vocabulary. If it’s worth doing, she says, it’s worth doing now.”
I found that a refreshing statement from an 83-year-old woman as she writes to her family. She tells them she loves them. She says sorry for the wrong she’s done.
And she tells herself that each day is special. In other words, what this 83-year-old lady is saying is that every minute and every breath is a gift from God, and that’s true.
Psalm 90 in the Old Testament
It’s a great psalm to read, a Psalm written by Moses. Psalm 90 is the oldest of all the Psalms and it speaks directly about the brevity of life. So have a look at it. It’s set up like a sandwich at the beginning and then at the end it speaks about the eternal God.
“Oh, Lord, it says you’ve always been our home before you created the hills or brought the world into being. You were eternally God and you will be God forever.” And then the writer brings us to Earth with a bang. He says “you tell us to return to what we were, you change us back to dust. 1000 years to you are like one day. They’re like yesterday, already gone like a short hour in the night. We are like weeds that sprout in the morning that grow and burst into bloom. And then we dry up and die in the evening.”
70 years is all we have, 80 years if we’re strong. And yet they all bring us trouble and sorrow. Life is soon over and we are gone and then verse 12 of this Psalm 90 says, “teach us how short our life is that we might become wise.” An older Bible translation puts it this way, “teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
I think there’s a lot to think about in this Psalm 90. It really serves as a warning. As I said that life is fragile. It does sound a bit gloomy, doesn’t it? Full of despair. Actually, Moses looks back on his amazing life. But Moses was asking God really for the right perspective when he asked God for help. Why? Because he realised he was getting old and that the days were not all that many left for him.
And it also serves us as a warning not to rush through life without discovering a meaning for ourselves and the purpose for which we were intended. Interesting comparison to God himself. I mean, God stretches from everlasting to everlasting. And what do we do? Well, we might show up for 80 maybe 85 years.
And so the dilemma really is that life is short and we’re in danger of living without meaning. Then towards the end of that psalm, he said, “fill us each morning with your constant love that we can sing and be glad all our life. Give as much happiness as the sadness you gave us during our years of misery. Lord God, may your blessings be with us. Give us success in all we do.”
So that means that God has the answer to all life’s big questions.
Let’s Pray
Well, Father, in heaven you are from everlasting to everlasting. You’re infinitely good. You gave yourself for us. Take us as we are, Lord. And we trust you now and into eternity. Amen.