How to cope when it seems we are just checking off the days
By Dean Collins
Some people religiously cross off the days on their calendar. I can remember in elementary school some teachers had a countdown of how many days till summer break. I’m not sure who wanted school to end more, the teacher or her students! Another day and another X. And so it went.
I suspect some of you have felt that way about Covid and the pandemic. Just get through the day, check it off, move on. Some day it will finally end. Our current reality could be compared to life in general. We each have a number of days, months, years to live. We don’t know how many. We keep our routines, sometimes with anticipation or joy, and sometimes just checking the box on our list of things we do.
A season of waiting
Moses might have had similar seasons. Eventually, he checked the last day in his birthplace and moved on. Then confronted by God at a burning bush, he checked off his last days as a shepherd. You can only isolate so long. And then came the 40 years in the wilderness. I doubt he kept a calendar in his tent marking each day as it ended, but he was well aware of the long season of waiting.
Psalm 90 is attributed to Moses. Scholars debate whether it was written by or simply about this man of God. In either case, you probably know it best for the first half; it’s the psalm often quoted at funerals. While there is nothing wrong with this use of the passage, I feel confident it wasn’t the intent or purpose of the psalmist.
The psalm certainly brought memories of exile long before David’s reign. It would have likely been heard long after King David and brought attention to the exiles that had begun and would continue. The psalm is a prayer that takes the long view more than focusing on the immediate situation. Yes, the psalm pleads that God return and have pity on the current suffering. The psalmist’s words echo ours in seasons of grief, pain, and unknown outcomes. “How long” is a reasonable question. Urgency and demand that God intervene are okay as well. The desire that God satisfy us in the morning is appropriate, even Biblical.
God is with us
When there have been long periods of distress, we yearn to see the end of it all. We want and need God’s favor. It’s okay and even good to ask that God make us glad in equal if not greater numbers of years and days than we have endured suffering. And he will. And he does. We know the truth even when we don’t enjoy it. God has not left us. Believers through the centuries have endured suffering and hardships in and for the Kingdom. Yes, our rewards that include peace, rest, and flourishing will endure forever. We know our suffering won’t last forever.
Even when we can’t see it, even on those days when we can’t imagine it, God is with us. We will get past the suffering. Restoration and joy do come in the morning, even on days when the difficulty reappears as the sun sets. We can pray, we must pray, that God will take the work of our hands and invigorate the outcomes. We want the calming rest of God’s hand on our shoulders, knowing he is with us carrying and lightening the load.
So pray this psalm. Believe and take hope. And if you are experiencing the gladness, then maybe it’s the day you are to lean in for the one who isn’t.
Establish the work of our hands, dear Lord.
Your time with God’s Word
Psalm 90:12-17 ESV
Photo by Adam Tinworth on Unsplash
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