Measure of Your Days

Do you want to know how long you are going to live? Young people often care more about career and relationships, but when people are beaten down by age or by sickness, they want to know how many days are left for them. If anyone knows the answer, he gets the floor. We all want to live a good long life, but no one knows how long we are going to get. Not even science can accurately predict human life span. It is exclusively reserved for God, as it is written, And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, (Acts 17:26 ESV) God already set each person’s life span, as the Psalmist sang, in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Ps. 139:16 ESV)


Though it was written long ago, no one knows his allotted life span. God did this on purpose, so that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, (Acts 17:27 ESV) When we seek for answers that only God knows, we are seeking for God. Therefore, when you seek to know your allotted life span, you are seeking for God, and God is waiting for you to search Him out like that. As Psalmist prayed, O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; (Ps. 39:4 ESV) The moment you get your answer back, you will see God. God once promises His people, you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deut. 4:29 ESV)


If one prays, God, how long will I live? Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” (Gen. 6:3 ESV) That is the upper limit God sets for all human being, and a sensible person would not expect himself to live out to the upper limit. He would further pray, God, what percentage do you allot to me out of that upper limit? Moses lived a full 120 years and he knew God before his death, and he also knew God’s answer to this prayer. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. (Ps. 90:10 ESV) What he meant is this, if you only ask for quantity, not quality of your life, you asked a wrong question. Then, shall we continue to ask for our life span? Hear how Moses asked, So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Ps. 90:12 ESV) Through Moses’ prayer, we learned that there is wisdom in how to count our remaining days.


If nothing is more precious than our life, then knowing our allotted life span is a sad thing. If there is something more precious than our life, then knowing our allotted life span brings us urgency, and prompts us to dedicate the rest of our lives for something better. When David was chased by his enemies and was running for his life in the wilderness, he certainly wanted to know whether his end was near or his life was about over. This is how he asked God about his allotted lifespan, Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. (Ps. 63:3-4 ESV) David was saying that if God took him away then, he only had one regret, that he would no long be able to praise God with his lips and with his lifted hands, because The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence. (Ps. 115:17 ESV) As soon as God heard such a prayer, He assured David that his allotted life span was much longer than his enemies’, and later God made this promise to him, the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (2 Sam. 7:11-13 ESV) David not only knew his allotted life span before his death, but even this, that the end of his life would be a beginning of something greater that never ends.

Prayer: O Lord! We want to search you with all our hearts and with all our souls. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!