“The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
The Finish
Moses names something worth sitting with soberly here, soon cut off, and we fly away, honest acknowledgment of life’s genuine brevity, even at its longest, even at fourscore years, still described as labour and sorrow, worth holding as sober honesty this whole book has been building toward, not denial but direct, honest naming.
This is worth examining against whatever illusion of permanence your own daily life has quietly assumed, as though years were genuinely unlimited rather than this psalm’s own honest, sobering claim, soon cut off, worth taking seriously not to produce despair, but genuine, clear-eyed honesty about actual, limited time.
Notice this psalm continues beyond this verse toward the request, so teach us to number our days, suggesting this sober honesty about brevity is meant to actually produce something, not merely despair, but the wisdom this psalm’s very next verses will explicitly, directly name and pursue.
Whatever illusion of unlimited time has quietly shaped your own daily choices, receive today this psalm’s sober honesty as needed correction. Soon cut off, and we fly away, worth holding directly, not to produce despair, but genuine clarity about actually, honestly limited time still remaining.
Finish Well
- Notice any illusion of unlimited time that has quietly shaped your own daily choices.
- Receive this psalm’s sober honesty today, not to produce despair, but genuine, clear-eyed clarity.
- Consider one specific choice today that would change if you took this brevity genuinely seriously.
Prayer
Lord, our days are soon cut off, and we fly away. Let this sober honesty produce genuine clarity in me today, not despair, but clear-eyed attention to actually limited time. Amen.
Carry this today
Life is genuinely brief, even at its longest. This sober honesty is meant to produce clarity.