MAKE ME KNOW MY END

“O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!” (Psalm 39:4)

I recently ordered a new phone for my wife. I really didn’t want to. Not because she doesn’t need a new phone (because she probably does). It’s mostly because new phones are really expensive, and I simply don’t want to spend that much money. We tend to keep our phones as long as we can, but, her phone (in “phone” years) is technically old, and it doesn’t work quite like it used to. In fact, her phone no longer holds its charge like it once did, and now it doesn’t seem to want to charge sometimes when it is plugged in. I wish it would last longer, but the fact of the matter is, it is a perishable resource. On our phones, if you click into the “battery life” section, there is a statement which reads, “rechargeable batteries are consumable components that become less effective as they age.” In other words, what this is stating is that eventually these batteries will die and the phone will no longer work.

As I reflect on the verse above, I cannot help but be reminded of this same reality, when it comes to our own lives. We are perishable. At times it even feels like we become “less effective” as we age. The older we get, the more aches we seem to acquire, and seemingly for apparently no reason. (As I write, I have a consistent pain in my shoulder that I have gone to the doctor to assess and they essentially told me that I’m “not as young as I once was”; I didn’t need a doctor to know that!) This is a constant reminder to each of us that our lives here will not last forever, no matter how much the world tries to inundate us with the newest fountain of life “secret”. (Just scan the racks of “health” magazines in the check-out line at the grocery store.) The fact is, we are perishable; more than that, we will all die.

This is why I appreciate David’s words here in Psalm 39. Much of humanity (and even many of us, at times) practically live like we will never die. We live and act like our lives here will never end, though we all know deep down that they will. God has written eternity on our hearts. We know we will die and we know that we are accountable. In fact, try as we might, none of us know if we will even still be alive tonight, let alone tomorrow or next year. Even our very next breath (and the one after that) isn’t promised.

In Psalm 39, David says to the LORD, “…make me know my end…” In other words, he is asking God to remind him of his coming death; that he would think about the fact that there is coming a day, no matter if it is tomorrow or in 50 years, when he will die. The problem, ultimately, is not that he will die, but Who he will have to give an account to after he dies. The author of Hebrews writes,

“…it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…” (Hebrews 9:27)

All of us will one day die. For some, it may be tomorrow or next week, next year or in 60 years. But, regardless, all will die. And after we die, then comes the judgment. David prayed that God would make him to understand this reality, because David understood that no matter how long he lived, he would still die and then be assessed by God. Our lives here are but a moment in the span of eternity. We are made of consumable components that become less effective as we age. We are all perishing (some quicker than others), and we will all one day die and appear before God. For the Christian, we have this truth that comforts our hearts: that though we die, yet shall we live. But this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t seriously (and perhaps soberly) consider this reality. All die and all face judgment.

So, when it comes to this life, the question shouldn’t be, “How LONG can I live?” Rather, the question is, “HOW will I live, no matter how long?” May David’s prayer become the practice of our lives: “O LORD, make me know my end…”