In four days, I will turn 30; four days ago, a young man I knew from high school died in a car accident. It seems no coincidence that this morning’s staff devotional schedule took me to Psalm 90. In this psalm, Moses’s prayer, readers consider the eternity of God and the finitude of humanity. While God is everlasting to everlasting, humans can ordinarily expect a lifespan of seventy or eighty years. After Moses expounds this sobering contrast, we meet a well-known line of Scripture: “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Ps. 90:12, ESV). Despite having visited this psalm many times in my life, it struck me differently today.
As I look forward to turning 30, I realize that numerous people I grew up with did not make it to 30. Some died in car accidents; a few from sickness; a couple from suicide; and one was murdered. I am not the first nor the last to discover that death is not an exclusive concern for the elderly. When Scripture draws its audience to consider death, it presses something urgent, weighty, and valuable on readers of all ages.
No matter how old you are, learn to number and make the most of your days.
Our days are short. Most of us can reasonably expect to live to ripe old ages, yet we all know that tomorrow is never guaranteed. For example, my fellow Ontarians may or may not be surprised to learn that over 400 people died on our highways in 2023 alone. While we do not want to obsess over death or live in fear, we should keep a healthy awareness of its nearness and let that awareness spur us to “get a heart of wisdom.”
Or, as John Calvin explains it, “We then truly apply our hearts to wisdom when we comprehend the shortness of human life.” As we contrast our short lives against eternity, we ought to see the importance of clear priorities; of diligently pursuing what is good and useful; and of honouring God with our words and actions each day. Awareness of death should encourage us to make the most of life. Recognition of our mortality ought to provide an antidote to procrastination, a rebuke to frivolity, and a reproof to laziness.
No matter how old you are, embrace death as bitter, ordinary, and instructive.
In Ecclesiastes 7, the wise Preacher tells his readers that “[it] is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart” (Eccles. 7:2). He is not urging a morbid fascination with death. Instead, he echoes Moses’s teaching in Psalm 90. Not only does contemplation of our own mortality prompt wisdom, but reflection on the death of another also shapes godly wisdom: “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning” (Eccles. 7:4a).
Death is harsh and bitter; sadness and grief are good and fitting responses to its sting. It is not good theology to pretend otherwise. If Christians were to expect or demand uniform celebration in the face of death, we would miss the divine comfort of Psalm 34:18 and the glorious hope of Revelation 21:4. While death has been defeated (1 Cor. 15:55–57), it is the last enemy to be destroyed (1 Cor. 15:26). Until that day comes, Christians should not shy away from death or ignore its painful presence, especially as it draws us to the spiritual realities of sin and salvation. By going to the house of mourning—by facing death’s ordinary yet bitter truth—our hearts are drawn to the amazing and eternal benefits of our identity in Christ.
No matter how old you are, remember that to die is gain.
In his death on the cross, Jesus Christ defeated sin and death; through faith in him, believers are justified and granted eternal life. Yet, until the last day and the believer’s glorious resurrection, physical death remains a painful reality. In this context we number our days and embrace death as instructive, concluding that “to live is Christ.” The wise person knows that a short life well spent is a life lived in service to and gratitude for Jesus Christ. Christ is all in all; he is the alpha and omega; he is the source of all true and lasting satisfaction.
Because of these truths, the Apostle Paul—while waiting for the final destruction of death—could say, “to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). No matter our age, how much we have accomplished, or how much we may leave behind, every believer in Christ Jesus can proclaim with Paul that to die is gain. While death is tragic, for the believer it is not to be feared: we will not die before our appointed time (Ps. 139:16); we will not die and be left in limbo or uncertainty (Luke 16:22; 23:43); and we will not be abandoned in death (John 6:40). In death we can genuinely look forward to joining the Church Triumphant in the glorious presence of the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).
Saints of all ages: number your days and make the most of this short life; that is good and wise. Mourn—but do not fear—death; our loving Saviour has conquered it.
