PSALMS 39:4-5: “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered— how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.” NLT

OBSERVATION: How did I get here? Have you ever asked/ that question? One day, you wake up, look in the mirror, and the person you see on the inside looks completely different from the one who is staring back at you. It seems like we blink our eyes and decades fly by.

David has one of these moments when he is crying out to the Lord. He prays, “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered – how fleeting life is.” We don’t know when David had these thoughts. I would guess it was later in his life. He remembered his time guiding sheep and worshipping God on his harp. Now, a lifetime has slipped by, and he asks…

“How did I get here?”

It is easy to focus on the brevity of life. We all face mortality when someone dear to us dies. A dear friend I worked with for over 35 years retired at 69 to enjoy his retirement. In less than a year, right before his 70th birthday, he was gone. These are the times that shake us and remind us that we are simply passing through. As believers, we know that our focus should not be on the temporal but the eternal. How do we do that?

Paul gives us the answer in his second letter to the Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18: “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” NLT

While this life is but a vapor, we must remember that we are living for eternity! It is so easy to forget this as we struggle through life each day. The days either fly by or they seem like they will never end. If our focus is on the present troubles, then we will be troubled and unable to walk in confidence and peace. The tyranny of the urgent will rob us of our peace.

Yet, if we fix our gaze upon the eternal, we will find the confidence to face every mountain with courage and determination. We will cherish each day and opportunity and see them as God’s preparation for our eternal life in His presence. We will not lament the years gone by. We will focus on the eternity that is ahead. The life we have left will be lived with continual purpose as we anticipate the glory that we will one day receive.

Yet, it is hard to keep my focus on eternity when my feet are anchored in the daily grind of life. However, I must stop, lift up my eyes, and look heavenward. Paul reminds us not to look at the things we see, but to look, with eyes of faith, at the things that are eternal. The question is no longer, “How did I get here?” The question now becomes…

“Where am I going?”

God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die in our place. Through Jesus death for our sins and victorious resurrection from the dead, our eternal destiny has been changed, and our outlook has been transformed. We are now, right now, in this very moment, living in the reality of our eternal life! One day, we will say goodbye to this earthly tent we live in, but our life will continue. This is why Paul can declare,

2 Corinthians 4:16: “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.” NLT

Years ago, I wrote a song about this process. The chorus went,

Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding me to look up this morning. Although my earthly life is but a vapor, my eternal life is forever. This short journey that seems to pass by so quickly is but the preparation for my eternal life in Your presence. Grant me the grace to look heavenward, not at the things I see, or the things staring back at me in the mirror. Grant me the grace to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith, and to Your eternal promise of glory!

Psalms 39:12: Hear my prayer, O Lord! Listen to my cries for help! Don’t ignore my tears. For I am your guest— a traveler passing through, as my ancestors were before me.” NLT

In Jesus’ Name!