The Greatest Day of Your Life
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12
If someone were to ask you what was the greatest day of your life, what would you say? What is the first thing that would come to your mind?
You might think, “It was the day I was born – when I sucked in that first lungful of breath and the unending adventure began.”
Then there was the day you took your first step. From that moment on you were a walker and your existence was never the same.
Or perhaps it was the day you spoke your first word and became a talker. Communication became a two-way street.
There was the day you learned how to read, and a new world opened up to you – a world unrestricted by time or space.
It might have been that first job, first date, first kiss, first love, first child, or perhaps it was the day God first became real to you.
All of these are reasonable candidates. However, author John Ortberg offers another possibility – that the greatest moment of your life is this moment right now. This tick of the clock. This beat of your heart.
This moment
Not because the moment is pleasant or happy or easy, but because this moment is the only moment you’ve got. Every past moment is irretrievably gone. It’s never coming back.
And the future is yet to be seen and therefore yet to be experienced. This moment…today…is all you have. And it’s God’s gift to you.
That is why the psalmist says, “This the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 103:12).
That is why the prophet wrote, “…God’s mercies are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23).
That is why the Apostle Paul counseled his readers to, “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity” (Ephesians 5:15-16).
And that is why Moses asked of the Lord, “Teach us to number our days, that we might gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).
So what does that mean – to number our days? You might well respond, “It has to do with the fact that our days are limited…and the need to remember that.”
And, to be sure, there’s some truth there. Life is certainly short. Scripture refers to it as “a mist…a vapor.” It’s here and then, poof, it’s gone.
Teach us to manah our days
But there’s a deeper meaning. In the original Hebrew, the text reads, “Teach us to manah our days.” Interesting word, manah.
It appears in the Book of Jonah where it is written that God manahs a fish, a worm, and a wind. The meaning is “to appoint” or “to prepare.”
As such Psalm 90:12 not only reminds us to number our days as it relates to their length but to prepare for our days as it relates to their possibilities …to appoint our days as it relates to their potential.
It means to consecrate our days for the purposes of God. And then to use those days to accomplish those purposes.
How do we do that? One way is to lift up each day and all that it holds in what could be called “proactive prayer.” Prayer not only for what is but for what is not yet.
“Lord, I recognize that this is the most important day of my life because it lies before me with all of its potential. Help me to make the most of it for Your glory.”
All of us can do this: the stay at home mom…the worker on the line…the nurse…the school teacher…the retiree. It’s a matter of dedicating the day to the Lord and looking for ways to honor Him and advance His Kingdom in it.
One author puts it this way: “Don’t let your days determine your life. Let your life determine your days. Don’t let your days just go by. Appoint them for the purposes of God.”
“Don’t let your days determine your life. Let your life determine your days.”
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn
Who knows? If and as you do that, you’ll not only be making the most of what is but what could be. And that could well be the wisest move you make all day.
PRAYER
Lord, all too often I see my life as simply the passing of time…day after day the processing of an ever-shortening calendar. Help me to see that You want every day to count. And remind me to proactively pray toward that end.
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