"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom" (Psalm 90:12).

This admonition is from the great psalm written by Moses as he was about to finish his long life of service to God. Although he had lived 120 years, he wrote that the normal life span would thenceforth be seventy or eighty years. Actually, his early years were spent serving the Egyptians, so his service for God occupied only some 80 years at most, and much of that time he was in the desert away from his people. It was only after he had passed that normal 80-year life span that he actually led his people from Egypt to the Promised Land.

Probably that was in his mind as he stressed the importance of "numbering our days," so that we may determine to use wisely whatever time we have left. He also wrote, in Deuteronomy 32:29: "O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!"

Actually, a person with a 70-year life span only has a total of about 18,000 days of potentially useful service for the Lord, assuming his first 20 or so years must be spent in education and training. It may be much less than this, depending on how much of one's mature life is spent in other pursuits than those to which God has called him or her. Each Christian would be well advised to "number the days" he may still have before the Lord comes or death overtakes him. "Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth" (Proverbs 27:1).

Whether this New Year brings chaos, or prosperity or whatever, its days will still afford opportunities to serve the Lord. Therefore, let us resolve to "walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:15-16).

We should not only count our days, but make our days count, and count for Him! HMM