All our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
Psalms 90:9
This verse speaks of the fleeting nature of human life and the need to seek God’s forgiveness and guidance.
A Tale that is Told
All our days
Our days comprise our life. Moses, in this Psalm, says that God has allotted humans 70 years of days (Psalms 90:10). Stronger people may reach 80 years. Of course, Moses generalizes. Many people live longer than 80 years and many people live shorter than 70 years.
Never mind, for a moment, the times defined in Psalms 90:10. The phrase “all our days” in Psalms 90:9 speaks of a lifetime, regardless of length. As we shall see in the following verses, Moses tends to view our days in a negative light. Compare with Ecclesiastes 6:12. For the preacher, the number of the days of the years of his vanity, i.e. his empty, fleeting years.
My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
Psalms 102:11
The currency of time
People do not have a universally equal lifespan. But we have equal time periods called “days.”
Today, I have 24 hours to spend (unless I die before the end of the day). So do you. Many of us cannot exploit this equality. Wealthy people use their time to generate more wealth. People of lesser means spend their days in servitude, living “paycheck to paycheck.”
I want you to think about your time. Even if you work an 8-hour day, how do you spend your time after you’ve finished work?
You can accumulate money, but you can’t accumulate time. You have no choice but to spend your time. How you spend it matters.
Let’s get wise with our time. Let’s invest it in ways that produce value for ourselves, for the Kingdom of God, and the world.
The underlying word rendered here as “we spend” speaks of bringing one’s years to an end, with the added idea of transitoriness (Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon).
Life is transitory, meaning that it is not permanent. You are here right now, but in the next moment, you could be gone.
Again, how do you spend your days?
Job
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
Job 7:6
Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
Job 14:1
Jacob
Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been
Genesis 47:9
David
Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
Psalms 39:5
I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
Psalms 109:23
A tale that is told
We recognize “a tale” as a story. Our life tells a story as we pass through time. This term, however, means a bit more than just a story.
The Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon explains the underlying meaning of the term:
We bring our years to an end as a sign, i.e. a fleeting sound
We not only spend our time, but we tell a tale with our life. We finish with “a sigh or a moan.” Our story doesn’t always end with something spectacular, as we’ve already seen.
Respond
Acknowledge that you have limited time. With each passing moment, you spend it either wisely or foolishly. You write a story. What will your story say? Even if you do your best and rank among great men of scripture, Abraham, David, and Job, you recognize that you, your days, and your story amount to nothing without God.
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