The great theologian, Ferris Bueller, once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”  

I’m afraid I must slightly disagree with Mr. Bueller. Life doesn’t just move pretty fast. It moves really fast, as in ‘crazy, lickety-split, lightning’ fast. As a Dad of three teenagers, I rarely, if ever, have time to follow Ferris’ advice to “stop and look around.”  

Incidentally, 2023 zipped by in a breakneck blur.  

I have a feeling 2024 will go by in a similar fashion. 

In that light, it’s crucial that we grasp the message of Psalm 90.

Long before Ferris Bueller espoused his wisdom on the movie screen, Moses wanted us to pay attention to the fleeting brevity of life. 

He compares our lives to “new grass that springs up in the morning” and is gone by the evening (Psalm 90:6). If we’re lucky, he says, we get “seventy or eighty years” and they “quickly pass” (Psalm 90:10). Every second of our frail, little lives flies by. 

On some level, we probably understand what Moses is saying.  

The question is: do we live like it?

The sad reality is that most of us do not. Most of us pretend like we have all the time in the world. We put off important spiritual decisions, like trusting in Christ as our Savior and Lord, until later. We fool ourselves into thinking that we’ll always have tomorrow. 

Aware of our foolish tendencies, Moses encourages us to stop and pray for “wisdom.”  

Wisdom is living with spiritual discernment. Pastor Adrian Rodgers says, “wisdom is living life from God’s viewpoint.” You see, wisdom doesn’t begin with us; it “begins with the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 9:10). Far more than merely accumulating knowledge, wisdom knows how and when to apply that knowledge.

Knowledge says, “Life is short.” Wisdom allows the brevity of life to influence our everyday behavior and the choices we make.  

To gain this kind of wisdom, Moses advises us to “count our days” (Psalm 90:12).  

If I live 70 years, like Moses estimates, that’s 25,567 days. At 47, I’ve already lived over 17,155 days. That means I have roughly 8,000 more days on this planet, maybe more, maybe less.  

This is a wake-up call, giving me perspective on the precious time I have left.     

What am I going to do with it?  

Will I be a wise steward or squander my days away in frivolous pursuits?

Wisdom tells us not only to count our days but to make each day count. 

But…don’t misunderstand. 

Our days aren’t supposed to merely count for us. We must make them count for Almighty God. 

Moses isn’t just advising us to “carpe diem.” By itself, this advice to “seize the day” is incomplete. It allows us to make the grave mistake of centering our lives around ourselves instead of God.

The focus of Psalm 90 is on the holy, eternal God who’s from “everlasting to everlasting” (Psalm 90:2). Yes, we are to seize each day, but not for our glory, but for the glory of the Timeless One who stepped into time in the Person of Jesus Christ. 

That, my friends, is how we make our days count. 

I pray that we will do everything we can to make much of Jesus in the coming year. 

Written by Jonathan Munson, Executive Director, RFTH

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