"Our Days Are Numbered" In Psalm 90, King David contrasts the eternal attributes of God to the brevity of man’s earthly existence: “Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Psalm 90: 1-2).  David describes the short life of men: “In the morning they are like grass which grows up: in the morning it flourishes and grows up; in the evening it is cut down and withers…We finish our years with a sigh.  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” (verses 5-6, 9-10).  The seeming futility of man’s brief life moves David to ask God, “Who knows the power of Your anger?  For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.  So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom”  (vs. 11-12). King Solomon, King David’s son and the wisest man who ever lived, wrote: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9: 10).  Wisdom is birthed when we understand Who God is and who we are in the light of Him. Mankind has the innate knowledge that his life is not his own to be lived only for himself.    Man was created to worship something greater than himself.  If he denies Almighty God the worship that is due Him, he will find an idol to bow before: money, reputation, fame, sports, music, etc.  There is no shortage of idols for a fool to worship:  “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God” (Psalm 14:1).  The Holy Spirit is ever-present to convict men of sin, righteousness and the judgment to come. Foolish men ignore the Spirit of God to their own peril. Those who do not want the Lord squander their lives on a selfish pursuit of pleasure.  “Go for the gusto because you only go around once” is their motto.  They do not know that “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after that, the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).  God has a plan and a purpose for each of our lives that is greater than anything we could imagine for ourselves.  When we face the Lord to give an account for the lives we lived on the earth, He will show us what He had planned for each of us.  How sad it will be to see the wasted years when we served ourselves rather than God.  King Solomon wrote: “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’…Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well.  Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God Who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12: 1, 6-7).  Death is something that people are afraid to face.  Death is separation from those remaining on the earth.  The Second Death is eternal separation from God in the lake of fire (Revelation 21: 8).  For the Christian, death is the “gateway to glory.”  The Bible declares: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15).  Joyfully, the saint will go on to his reward and be united with the One Who loved him and gave His life for him.  Death is something to feared for those who do not know God.  Taking that leap into darkness without Jesus to hold on to is more than frightening. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked; He knows their end: “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?” (Ezekiel 19: 23). Numbering our days and considering our ways places the fear of the Lord within us.  It is by the fear of the Lord that we depart from evil and live for God.  Then the beauty of the Lord our God will be upon us, and He will establish the works of our hands (Psalm 90: 17). “A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.  It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting,  for that is the end of all men, and the living will take it to heart”  (Ecclesiastes 7: 1-2). “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11: 25).