“Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow he does not endure.
“Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of years is as nothing before You. Each man’s life is but a breath.”
Lord, today is the anniversary of my grandmother’s death. Family funerals seem to abound, with my own father’s passing still fresh in my memory. A dear friend and mentor who battled cancer three times is now with You as well. And a year ago today I received my own personal “wake up call” diagnosis.
All around me is the evidence of how fragile life is. How quickly it passes. I often that the days sometimes drag on, but the years fly by. I thought the days of changing diapers and wiping faces would never end. Now in their thirties, I wonder how my children got to be so grown; how I got to be so old.
“But now Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in You.”
I have confidence that because of Your power, authority, and sovereignty, no one, not any power or circumstance, can take away even a single minute of life that has been ordained by You. “Man’s days are determined; You have decreed the number of his months and have set the limits he cannot exceed.”
Father, I know there are many things I cannot grasp while here on earth. But I love the picture You give us of resurrection.
When I plant a seed in the ground, it doesn’t look like what will come up. A tomato seed does not look like a tomato or the plant it grows on. Neither does a pumpkin seed, or a carrot seed, or an apple seed, or a peach pit. So my earthly body is like the seed. And my heavenly body is like the plant that springs from it.
My earthly body is fragile, but I will be raised with You indestructible! I live in weakness and with embarrassment, but I will return with You in power and with glory!
Because I look to You for my eternal future, there is no fear, because Yours is the victory! “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?” Thanks be to You! You have given me victory through my Lord Jesus Christ!” Amen
Daily Bible Prayer 