Count Your Days

There’s an old song in the church, we call them hymns, titled, ‘Count Your Blessings.’  It’s a classic by many standards, but one that carries with is some really good theology.

The chorus proclaims, ‘Count your blessings name them one by one, count your blessings see what God has done.  Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done.’ 

While the hymn carries with it some good theo and a catchy tune, the real message for us has more to do with them learning to appreciate the many blessings that God has placed into our lives; many of which we might not even be aware of, until their gone. Heads up on that if you’re reading this and perhaps, are not fully aware of God’s many blessings in your life, which, by the way, always begins with each day.  As we learn to count our days (number our days) and make the most of them, each day, we too will come to better understand the blessing of the Lord in the gift He gives us each day, which is another day.

I should like to give you a brief expose’ of Psalm 90. It’s a prayer of Moses pertaining to the eternity of God and the frailty of man.  As a watcher pastor, this psalm is a psalm that I am very familiar with as it pertains to the Figtree Generation; another blog you can read on this site.

Moses said it this way, “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”                                            – Psalm 90:10

• If ever there were a passage in the OT that described the actual length of a generation, it would be this one. It’s between 70 and 80 years.  When you look at the average lifespan of folks living today, with modern meds and procedures that extend the quality and longevity of life, one can see how this passage fits. However, that was not so much the case in Moses’ day.  A person would be lucky to live so long.

The phrase, ‘if by reason of strength’ (KJV, NKJV) is communicated slightly differently in other translations which read, ‘are empty and filled with pain’ (TLB), or ‘if our strength endures’ (NIV); however, the message is the same. If by God’s grace you are given a few more years to live in this world, even if it hurts a bit, so be it; life isn’t always easy and it can even be sorrowful at times, especially for the aged and infirmed.  When we die, that is, when we are ‘cut off,’ than we fly away, which is a Rapture scenario.  Moses is speaking of a believer, a follower of the Lord, and in the NT, this is the Christ.

He continues,
“Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. ¹² So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”              – (vs.11,12)

• When God unleashes His wrath (His anger) on this world, there will be great fear of Him from those who are here to endure it. We see examples of what that looks like throughout the OT and we know that a time is coming very soon to this earth known as the seven-year tribulation where God’s wrath will be bestowed upon this world yet again. 

We, as believers in Jesus, won’t be here for it, thank the Lord Jesus, for He took that wrath for us on the cross.  However, for those who are left behind after the Rapture, they will endure the judgment of God which will be manifest in various ways.  The temptation for them will be to kill themselves, thinking it to be an escape from that this life, which for them is all that there is.  They have been indoctrinated with this lie since they were in grade school. This is the trick and plan of the enemy, to keep as many people from discovering who Jesus really is, the Son of the Living God, and the only way to the Father.  The sad reality of suicide carries with it an enormous responsibility of wagering what you believe about the afterlife on all of eternity.

Each of us must learn to number our days and in so doing, we will use each of them for the glory of the Lord.  We must walk by faith, not by  sight, all the while longing to be with the Lord, but serving Him daily and efficiently while we are here.  We gain that heart of wisdom when we read God’s Word and allow the Holy Spirit to minister to us His deeper truths contained therein.  Alas, we must be good stewards of our life, and our days.

“Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. ¹⁴ Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days! ¹⁵ Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil.”  – (vs.13-15)

• If this is not the cry of the faithful followers of Jesus today I don’t know what is.  We long for the Lord’s return for us, in the Rapture; and for others who have gone before us in death, and their resurrection from Paradise.  We are all asking, ‘how long O Lord?’  I know I am. 

The truth be told, God has shown us great compassion. He has satisfied us with His mercy, which is, not getting something bad that we deserve. As a result, we can rejoice because we do have something to be glad in, and we do look forward to what God has in store for us as we efficiently live our out days in this world. 

I’ll be it that it’s tough at times right now, but nothing to be compared to what is coming in the tribulation.  The affliction of this world can be difficult; but as we go through it, God is with us and He will use the adversity to grow us in our faith and trust in Him and in His Word. We see a lot of bad things in this life, in the news, in the media, and sometimes in our own arena.  However, God is faithful and will one day soon receive us from this dumpster fire of a world and to Himself so that where He is, so we will be also.  The memories of all those bad things will be as gone as we will be from this world.

“Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children. ¹⁷ And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands.”            – (vs.16,17)

• While we are here, we have work to do.  It’s hard to get to it when you just want to go.  Some of work we do is more about the temporariness of this life; but much of it extends into the next life in the form of restored people, stored up heavenly treasure, and the hope and promises that are contained in God’s Word to us which all await us just on the other side of this hilltop. 

I should like to remind my brothers (and sisters) that what we do is not who we are.  We are who we are by God’s grace and if we are saved, than that too is only by His grace; which, by the way, means getting something really good that we don’t deserve.   I encourage you to work well, live well, and love well those entrusted to your care.  In the end, we are a reflection of God’s grace and love in this world.  The more we love God, the more we can reflect His love to those around us.

While it’s painfully clear to me that too many times, too many men have not led their lives, relationships, and families as well as they could have (or should have).  The result has cost too many women and children their lives, both physically and spiritually.  The good news is that it’s not too late to turn it all around and start living right in God’s sight and loving according to His standard and not the world’s.  In the end, if we do this right, God will ‘establish the work of our hands.’  Put this another way, if your life is causing another person entrusted to your care some pain and sorrow, you need to change the way you live and love so that they will be happier.

If I were to write a book, this blog site would be my repartee (rep-a-twa).  I feel like a fish out of water in this life, and yet I am doing, living, and serving as the Lord would have me to do, as best I can, with what I have. I am 58 years old now, I am in relatively good shape, I work out, I eat right (mostly), according to my dentist, my teeth are in good shape, and I don’t have back problems (thank God). While I don’t take any meds, I do take vitamins and limit my refined sugar intake.  I have a skillset that has supplemented my life in a way that has allowed me to help others around here who need it.  For this I am grateful, and the many power tools it takes to get these jobs done.  That being said, I too am at work, keeping my hand to the plow, counting my days and making the most of them.  I encourage you to also count your days and count your blessings that are contained in those days.  Each day brings us a diversity of things and events, people and pleasures, pain and suffering (at times), but in the end, the Lord is with us through it all.  I would have never known or appreciated a good day until I experienced a bad day. I am so grateful to God that I have many more good days than bad days; this in of itself is a blessing.

Okay, one final thought.  In all of this, I challenge you to not so much look forward to the weekends in your life as much as you embrace the Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays also.  Those days need to be counted (lived well) and accounted for.  If everybody is working for the weekend, how well are we living out our weekdays?  This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it because you’re never gonna get it back.  Speaking of getting it back, don’t worry so much as what you may have lost in this life and cannot recover; rather, embrace the truth that nothing lost in this life will take away what the Lord has secured and in store for you on just the other side.  Until that day, live your life well and make each day count.

Maranatha!

Encouragemen is a blog written by Pastor Rob Lee, recently relocated to Northwest Missouri.  He lives with his wife of 33-years, near their three adult children, their spouses, and children (their grandchildren).  Pastor Rob is an Ordained Assemblies of God minister, a former Lead Pastor (25 years), police chaplain, and community advocate.  He continues to serve, consult, and disciple men of God, including those who are in the ministry.