"Three Score and Ten!"

Although most Christians probably think of David as the original psalmist and singer among God's people, he actually wasn't. Moses was the original singer and psalm composer. It's a bit odd that only one of Moses' songs is included in the canon of Psalms because he appears to have been quite prolific as a singer and composer. But the one Psalm attributed to him is rather sobering.

"All our days have passed away in your wrath; we finish our years like 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. 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." Psalm 90:10-12 NKJV

I vividly recall the first time I seriously read this Psalm as a young preacher and struggled to grasp the depth of its meaning for me. Now that I am at the "seventy years" milestone I am able to read it with greater appreciation for Moses' mental state and understand a little better what he wanted me to see about life in the presence of God.

In my 70 years I cant really say that I have witnessed or experienced the wrath of God like Moses had. He may have written this Psalm soon after God had told him that he would not actually enter the "promised land" but only view it from afar. He died at 120 years old, alone, in some unknown, remote mountain area. His funeral was attended only by God and maybe Jesus and the Holy Spirit and who could possibly count the number of angels in the chorus!

Now, at 70 years, I have learned to "number my days", to realize that my life will continue to trudge onward one day at a time toward that final breath. I, like Moses, may not experience the end I had expected, but I am thankful to have had at least these 70 years. And, if I reach 80, as I expect, I will still be where I am right now regardless of what happens from now till then. I will still be in the presence of my Father, my family and my friends.

Numbering my days has encouraged me to not take today for granted, as though it will produce exactly what I wanted or expected. There is nothing wrong in having wants and expectations, setting goals and making plans. But my plans are always secondary to the will of God, who alone can bring me through any mine field Satan can lay in my path.

One of my dearest sisters in the kingdom asked me a question a few years ago that kind of sums it all up for me. She asked what I regret most about my life. After a few seconds I replied, "You know, I really don't have any regrets because I have lived long enough to have outlived each and every one." Are there things I wish I had done differently? Absolutely! But I can't go back and change any of that and my Father has helped me keep going in spite of my sins, my ignorance, my immaturity, my selfishness.

Now at 70 years, my family still loves and respects me in spite of my mistakes and that's what matters most to me, after the loving forgiveness God has freely given to me in Jesus Christ. Numbering my days isn't a fearful or angry exercise in futility because doing so has made me wiser than my real enemy, Satan. I now know he will NOT defeat me because the one who is in me is greater than the one who rules the world. John wrote that as he numbered his days from the perspective of a persecuted exile on a barren island. If he can see that, so can I!

Here's the bottom line - 70 ain't so bad. HALLELUJAH!