"TO NUMBER OUR DAYS"
Robert Taylor
There is nothing more sobering than to be in the presence of death - a life has finished. God in His wisdom has limited the life of men. It tells us in this passage that God has limited it to threescore years and ten; and if, by reason of strength, it may be longer; but it is limited, there comes an end to our lives whether they be long or short. Moses himself was a man who had lived a considerable time, longer than men would live nowadays, but he lived that life and he is writing about it. And he says, "Teach us to number our days". That is all that we have, a day at a time, and God would have us to be sobered as we are in the presence of death as to what our days are like. Job speaks of them as being swifter than a weaver's shuttle (Job 7: 6); they pass away very quickly. One day comes and another day comes and much of it may be spent in an aimless kind of way, but God would, as I said, sober us that our days may be spent wisely, may be spent rightly. Here Moses speaks of God as being from eternity to eternity. He has made time and He has come into it in the Person of His Son. It says in Scripture "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son", Gal 4: 4. He came into time to give it meaning. He came into the days of the life of our brother to give it some meaning; his days were spent in relation to the Lord. Man's days without Christ are spent in relation to himself. We live to ourselves and spend our life in our own circumstances, our own things and doing our own will. But the Lord Jesus came into time to teach us the value of what can be accomplished in a lifetime as we number our days in relation to the will of God. The Lord Jesus showed us how to live day by day. He lived in dependence upon His Father; not pleasing Himself but lived here in the service of others. His days were guided by heaven. The Lord Jesus as He was here speaks of morning by morning (Isa 50: 4), He had the Father's word for the day and each day was filled out pleasurable to heaven. So He has shown us how to number our days, how to fill out our lives in relation to God's will. Peter says that the time past has been sufficient to please ourselves (1 Peter 4: 3); he says henceforth we are to spend our time in relation to the will of God. Our brother came to that and for the rest of the time he sought to be for the pleasure of God. The Lord Jesus in His grace had touched his heart and touched the hearts of many here and He would seek to touch your heart. As He was here in relation to God's will He gave His life, shed His blood to cleanse us from our sins that our lives may take on a definite character. Instead of being carried along in the stream of man's will and the pleasures of sin and the deceitfulness of it the Lord Jesus would touch our hearts that we may turn in relation to serving Him in His grace. What love, what grace He has shown to take away the guilt and the burden of sin that we labour under, that in His grace He would draw us in relation to Himself. So Moses would teach us here that we may number our days. A day has come in our brother's life when those days have ceased and he is now with Christ. His life has not been empty, or aimless. The death of the wicked, the death of the sinner how empty it is; a life has been spent and what has been accomplished in it? A life spent in relation to man's will ends in a sorrowful death, but a life that has been spent in relation to the will of God ends in being put to sleep in Jesus. Our brother's life here is finished but there has been worked out in that life some thing that is going to be gathered up. When the Lord comes our brother will be raised, something there has been wrought in him that will be suited to find its place in those heavenly courts above. Our brother's days have been counted, not only by him but by those who have known him and have been counted by heaven, and the Lord has ended those days to gather him to Himself. So those of us who are left still have today. How is today going to be spent? Is it going to be that we are brought under the Saviour's touch, to be in relation to the will of God? It says, "that we may acquire a wise heart".
May it sober our hearts that a life has been finished, the days have been ended, but there is something being gathered up from those days that the Lord has gathered to Himself and it will be raised to shine in those heavenly courts. Well, what about our days? Can we look back on our lives - most of us would have regrets and sorrows - but there would be in it for those who have committed themselves to the Lord Jesus days in which we have learned something of His grace, and of His love. And today those of us who know Him would rest in the comfort of His love. Our dear sister sorrowing, but not as those who have no hope; she is resting in the comfort that those days have been spent in relation to God's will. And in the day of sorrow that we may be facing today we prove the comfort and the grace of Christ. May our hearts be strengthened in it that for the rest of the time, our days may be under the will of God for His pleasure, by His grace and for His glory. May it be so.
NEW YORK
13 November 1995
Burial of A.G.Spooner