Through the Bible in one year - Day 40

Psalm 39:4

"O Lord, make me know my end

and what is the measure of my days;

let me know how fleeting I am!”

As we approach the Lenten season, this is perhaps one of the most useful verses to keep in mind. When we think we will live forever, we tend to put things off; things like making amends, or changing our ways, or letting people know how much we care. All these things can be left until it is too late, unless, as the Psalmist requests, we measure our days and remember how fleeting our time here can be, and how fleeting our time with our loved ones can be. Lord, I pray that I remember that time is short; to live now and to do it according to your statutes, so that I may, in the end see you face to face.

For another time we have read that ‘all the acts and sayings are written in the story of the prophet Iddo’ (2 Chronicles 13:22) and I now wonder who is this prophet and where is this story? Apparently these writings have been lost. I can imagine that over time much can be and has been lost, and it makes me think again of how important it is to measure our days, and recognize how fleeting our time here is. Obviously, this prophet was known, since the mention of him is almost an aside and yet we have misplaced them. We will see elsewhere in our readings that the Israelites actually misplaced the whole of the Books of the Law, and after the Babylonian captivity, they find them and are reintroduced to them through the prophet Nehemiah. Without them they were unable to keep the covenant – because they didn’t actually know what it was. For our own sake, then we need to remember and to hold fast to God’s Word, lest we be lost, and unable to keep the covenant.

"You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it." (Acts 7:51-53)

This reading about the stoning of Stephen and his witness beforehand fits well with our call to recognize God’s call upon our lives and not to lose the words of the prophets, so that we may indeed number our days, and keep His holy covenant.

Today’s readings: Psalm 39, Genesis 36, 2 Chronicles 13, Acts 6:8-7:60