HOW WE DAILY WALK—DOES MATTER TO THE LORD!
Breathe in.
Breath out.
Do it again & again & again, until we reach the very last one the LORD has planned for us to take.
Now, maybe many will read the opening lines and stop reading, saying, “This is too morbid for me to consider my death.” However, it is not our death today that we must focus upon but our LIFE.
The psalmist David understood solitude as he served in his father’s fields, shepherding the sheep, fighting the predators, and observing the wonders of God’s creation. It is from David that we are reminded of the “handbreadth” of the days of our LIFE we have been given here on earth.
THUS, HOW WE DAILY WALK WITHIN THE DAYS OF OUR LIFE—DOES MATTER TO THE LORD!
“LORD,
(The Psalms 39: 4-6 NASB)
make me to know my end
And what is the extent of my days;
Let me know how transient I am.
Behold,
You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight;
Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.
Surely every man walks about as a phantom;
Surely they make an uproar for nothing;
He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.”
Many summers ago, I attended an auction, one held by the local auctioneer company hired to sell my grandparents’ possessions. For several days and nights leading up to the sell, my extended family (parents, uncles, aunts, & cousins) had worked to make decisions:
- SELL THIS ITEM.
- KEEP THAT OBJECT.
- CARRY THIS ITEM TO THE AUCTIONEER’S TENT.
- CARRY THAT OBJECT HOME WITH US.
- RECEIVE THAT WHICH HAS ALREADY BEEN GIVEN!
My grandparents had been married many years and had acquired many possessions. As we walked through all the items to be sold, my sisters and I (along with our spouses) made decisions on what we could afford to purchase & what we had room in our homes to carry home. There was one particular print that hung behind my grandma’s couch, one that I had admired since my youth. There was also a bed my parents slept in each time we traveled from Indiana to visit. However, there was one particular article that was not for sale.
- One item went home with my husband and me.
- One object was taken home with another person who ‘outbid’ me during the auction.
- But the article that could not be bought was FREE—ONE ALREADY PURCHASED FOR ME!
As I have reflected on that auction (now so many years ago), I find myself wondering—
- Why did I not bid higher to gain the print I had always admired? &
- Why did no one ‘outbid’ me for the bedroom suit that now sits in one of our bedrooms? &
- Why do the “items & objects” of this earthly life matter so much to us? &
- What should we REALLY focus upon leaving as our Earthly Legacy for the auction our children will have once the LORD has taken us home?
- WHAT TRULY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT LEGACY WE CAN LEAVE?
“And even when I am old and gray,
(The Psalms 71: 18 NASB)
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
[to the next generation that comes after us]
Your power to all who are to come.”
&
“One generation shall praise Your works to another,
(The Psalms 145: 4 NASB)
And shall declare Your mighty acts.”
The LORD has ordained for us a certain number of days to live.
&
The LORD has given us a specific number of “handbreadths” to breathe.
The Bible tells us so!
This TRUTH is God’s to ordain.
Our part is HOW WE DAILY WALK within the allotted days the LORD provides for us.
&
Our part is HOW WE ‘LIVE OUT’ the “handbreadths.”
TRULY IT—DOES MATTER TO THE LORD!
The Bible tells us so!
“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,
(The 1st Letter of John 5: 1-4 NASB)
and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.
By this we know that we love the children of God,
when we love God and observe His commandments.
For this is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments;
and His commandments are not burdensome.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world;
and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”