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One of the fundamental truths on which our forefathers based their lives was that God numbers our days.  This means that we cannot die before our days are completed- if we are earnest in our attempt to obey God in His plan for us.  This created tremendous security for them even in turbulent times.

Knowing this truth gave George Washington the courage to ride to the front in the Battle of the Monongahela and face almost point blank gunfire from the enemy lines.  Though he sustained four bullet holes in his coat and another one in his belt buckle, he escaped unharmed: as he said, “By the miraculous dispensations of Providence.”

Our Forefathers got this understanding from the Bible.  God, who gives us life, numbers our days from before the time we’re born.  The Bible teaches in Psalm 139 that God planned all our days for us before our birth.  This is why David refused to take vengeance on King Saul though Saul was trying to kill David.  David stated to one of his soldiers (who had an opportunity to easily kill Saul),

“… his day shall come to die…”

(1 Samuel 26:10)

God said to David concerning his own life,

“And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee…”

(2 Samuel 7:12, emphasis added)

We see this truth plainly operating in the life of Jesus.  When the jealous religious leaders planned to kill Him, the Bible tells us,

“Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.”

(John 7:30)

And again,

“These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.”

(John 8:20)

The Bible teaches that God has planned for us a certain number of days on this earth and the only thing that can shorten them are foolish acts:  In other words, doing things that are contrary to God’s plan for us.  Ecclesiastes 7: 17 warns us,

“…Neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?”

Knowing that our days are numbered puts a value on each day.  It stirs us not to waste time on the fleeting pleasures of this world.  This truth calls us to be involved in eternal works instead of temporary ones.  It reminds us there will be a day when we stand before the Judgment of God and give an account for the way we’ve used the precious time which He entrusted to us.  It calls on us to acknowledge that God is in control of this life that has our name attached to it:  That every breath is a gift from Him and is to be treated as a precious stewardship, not a means to selfish pleasure.

The Bible calls us to admit this when it states,

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

(Psalm 90:12)

It commands,

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise:  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

(Ephesians 5:15-16)

But knowing that God has our days numbered also creates a security and contentment:  Security, because you can’t die before your last numbered day (if you walk with Christ); Contentment, because you can trust Him to control all things instead of you trying to.  It is as John Jay, the First Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, stated,

“God governs the world, and we have only to do our duty wisely, and leave the issue to Him.”

(Jay, John. Tryon Edwards, D.D., The New Dictionary of Thoughts  (Garden City, NY: Hanover House, 1852; p. 220.)

Are you doing “your duty wisely” and leaving “the issue to Him”?

Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you— and for your children!  And you won’t like what that brings to you.  I’m Don Pinson, this has been Think About It.