February 28
1 Chronicles 29:15
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
Conversation with my soon to be 7 year old grandson:
JC: Nonni, grown-ups are lucky.
Me: Yeah, why do you say that?
JC: Because for kids it seems FOR-EVER between birthdays. But it doesn't seem as long for y'all.
Me: You are very right about that, Munchkin.
And he was. I remember as a child thinking that I would never get to be in double digits or a teen, or an adult. Now it seems like birthdays roll around more quickly. There is an old saying about aging---The days are long but the years are short. I understand that more and more with each passing day.
David knew that, too. As he was preparing to pass the mantle off to his son Solomon, he knew that our days on this earth pass quickly. I imagine, though there were many times David feared he would lose his life, it still ended more quickly than he had imagined.
But it wouldn't be fair to look at this verse and not look at the ones preceding it. I Chronicles 29:13-14 say: Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. David prayed to thank God for all he had. Old-time radio pastor Vernon Magee called this, “One of the greatest prayers in the Scriptures and certainly the Old Testament.” David realized that although he started as a shepherd and ended as a king, everything was because of God.
We, too, need to realize that life is short and we must do what we can to serve God and bring people to Him while we have the time. We can't put things off waiting for a better time because tomorrow is not promised to us.
As we go through the day, let us remember that our lives are short and the only thing that will matter in the end is what we did for God.
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