How to 'number our days' (1)

Cultivate gratitude, contentment and wisdom

Peter Carruthers

Fog, Voisins, Alfred Sisley, 1874, Musee d’Orsay, Paris. Alfred Sisley, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

At the end of last year, I was once again reminded of the famous words of Dag Hammarskjöld, the second secretary general of the United Nations:

“For all that has been, Thanks; for all that is to be, Yes.”

Hammarskjöld was an extraordinary, but enigmatic and controversial figure. His spirituality and Christian faith only became explicit in his posthumous book, Markings, from which this quotation is taken. But these wise words echo biblical themes of gratitude and contentment, evident especially in the Psalms and Paul’s letters.

The ‘new year’ is now well underway. And, already, there is much happening, in the world, the nation and the churches, to distress and perplex us. These tools of biblical wisdom equip us to face the challenging times ahead, and teach us to how ‘number our days’ (Psalm 90:12).

‘Give thanks to the Lord for He is good’

The Psalms both reflect and form our inner dispositions, as well as informing our words and actions. They are the mainstay of traditional liturgies and daily prayer. They provide ‘daily bread’ and ‘food for the journey’. Regular ‘consumption’ of the Psalms is good for our spiritual health; committing some to memory can provide some ‘emergency rations’.

Thanksgiving is a central and recurrent theme in the Psalms. About 30 of the 150 Psalms include exhortations to be thankful. They enjoin us to give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and mercy, for His creation and provision, and for His hearing our prayers, and to gather together to do so. Here are a few examples.

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. (Psalm 118:1,29; Psalm 106:1; Psalm 136:1)

We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near. (Psalm 75:1)

Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men. (Psalm 107:8,15,21,31)

I love the Lord, because He has heard My voice and my supplications… I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, And will call upon the name of the Lord. (Psalm 116:1.17).

Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. (Psalm 30:4)

I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people. (Psalm 35:18)

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations. (Psalm 100:4-5)

The Psalms urge us, therefore, to make thanksgiving both an attitude and action, a deep disposition and a perennial practice. They also give direction to our gratitude. We are not simply, as the popular school assembly hymn goes, “to say a great big thank you”,¹ but rather to give thanks to Him from whom all good things come. They supply us with reasons to be thankful - for example, God’s goodness, mercy and truth as in Psalm 100 above. The latter psalm even suggests that gratitude is essential to coming into God’s presence: “enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4) (ie do not come into God’s presence without a sacrifice/gift).

‘Give thanks in all things’

Paul echoes this disposition and practice of gratitude, which is to be characteristic of those who follow Jesus, who have been ‘grafted into the good olive tree’ (Romans 11:24) and, hence, who inherit the Psalms of Israel as their essential song book. His letters are replete with thankfulness and joy and exhortations to be thankful and joyful. The words ‘thank’, ‘thanks’ or ‘thanksgiving’ appear in all but two of his letters, with forty-six occurrences in most English translations (eg NKJV & ESV). Many of these instances are expressions of Paul’s own gratitude to the Lord. But he also urges and exhorts his readers to make thanksgiving central to their prayers and actions.

Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:18-20)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:15-17)

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Paul’s words above to the Thessalonians are particularly incisive and challenging. Gratitude is not to be reserved just for the ‘good times’, but is to be our attitude and action whatever our condition or the states of affairs around us. Further, thankfulness is not just an option or aspect of temperament; rather, it is God’s specific will for us. And, echoing Psalm 100 above, when troubles do come (and they will), as Paul instructs the Philippians, we are not to be anxious, but to approach the Lord “with thanksgiving” (Philippians 4:6).

‘Godliness with contentment is great gain’

Contentment is the companion of gratitude. To ‘give thanks in all circumstances’ means being content in all circumstances.

The Psalms express the full range of human experience in relationship with God, from the heights of faith and exaltation to the depths of doubt and despondency. But, underlying this is the contentment of simple trust in the Lord’s loving kindness and fatherly care and of surrendering to His will, even in times of perplexity and darkness. (As one wise counsellor said to me many years ago, ‘trust is only really trust, when it is trust in darkness’.)

Speaking of David (to whom are attributed about half the Psalms), this writer comments:

David knew that rest, peace, and joy do not come in a utopian set of perfect circumstances. This is why he wrestles with his longings, and ultimately submits his desires to the Lord… David’s contentment (or desire for it) originated in his covenant relationship with Yahweh. David trusted Yahweh, and therefore trusted God’s provision for him and God’s promises to him…. David did not desire to escape his circumstances, but to experience the pleasure and satisfaction that comes through communing with God in the midst of them.

For David, fullness of joy and contentment was only to be found in the Lord’s presence, which was the ‘one thing’ he desired and sought for above everything else.

In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures for evermore. (Psalm 16:11)

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. (Psalm 63:1-2).

I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvellous for me. But I have calmed and quietened my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. (Psalm 131:1-2)

Paul also had learned to be content whatever his circumstances, even in the midst of the most extreme adversity and suffering.

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13)

Like David, however, for Paul, contentment was not some sort of happy optimism or temperamental resilience to life’s knocks. Rather, it was wholly contingent upon His relationship with the Lord. For example, his advice to Timothy presents contentment as proceeding from godliness, not the other way round.

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. (1 Timothy 6:6-8)

‘Our days are numbered’

The end of the old year and the start of the new also reminded me of the passing of my own time, and of my own frailty and finitude in this life, and of that of all of us, regardless of our age. Here also, the Psalms and Paul’s letters shed light on what may feel like an ever-darkening path.

Psalm 90 (attributed to Moses) faces the reality of human frailty and finitude, but finds hope in turning to the Lord in the midst of it. Our days on this earth are numbered and short. We should use our limited time here wisely. But as we turn to Him, He will bless us and prosper the everyday things of our life.

The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their boast is only labour and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.
(Psalm 90:10,12,14,17)

David also acknowledges the ephemerality of human life, comparing it to grass or a wild flower. But, he affirms, the Lord’s mercy towards His children endures forever.

As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children.
(Psalm 103:15-17)

Paul adds weight to this, reminding us to focus not on the temporary things of this age, but on the eternal things of the age to come.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

As Paul had written previously to the Corinthians, “if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

Rightly ‘numbering our days’ means having our sights set, not on the things of this world, but on the things of the age to come and the hope of our resurrection to eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:12-58: 2 Corinthians 5:1-8).

Facing the future

So, as we head into the uncertain ‘swirling mist’ of the days ahead, let us strive to be grateful for the past (how ever we might feel about it) and to welcome the future, being content with whatever it might bring (even if it is difficulty and adversity), to use our time wisely, making the most of the remaining days of this life, and to fix our eyes, not on the (temporary) things of this age, but on the (eternal) things of the age to come.

But, let us also recognise that cultivating such virtues and practices is entirely dependent on our relationship and communion with the Lord, on ‘abiding in the vine’. I shall offer some further thoughts on this in the next article in this series.

Unlike the big Christian festivals of Christmas, Easter etc, New Year has not inspired many prayers, poems or hymns. At the end of 2023, I cited the late Timothy Dudley Smith’s, ‘Lord for the years’ as one exception. At the end of 2024, I learned that on 1 January 1745 and on almost every New Year’s Day thereafter, Dr Johnson composed a prayer for himself. His prayer for 1773 is below. This is rather late as a new year prayer for us, but his words reflect some of my thoughts above and are good for any time of the year.

Almighty God,
by whose mercy my life has continued for another year,
I pray that, as my years increase, my sins may not increase.
As age advances,
let me become more open, more faithful and more trusting in you.
Let me not be distracted by lesser things
from what is truly important.
And if I become infirm as I grow old,
may I not be overwhelmed by self-pity or bitterness.
Continue and increase your loving kindness towards me,
so that, when you finally call me to yourself,
I may enter into eternal happiness with you,
through Jesus Christ my Lord.
(1 January 1773, Dr Samuel Johnson, 1709-1785)

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1. This is a line from ‘Autumn Days', by Estelle White. Unlike many of the rest of her 160 plus hymns, God does not get a mention. A one-time Roman Catholic nun, writing in the 1960s, White would simply have taken it as read that the Lord was to be the recipient of the ‘great big thank you’. But, sadly, that might not have been quite so clear to generations of children since. One of her most beautiful and best known hymns is ‘Gentle as silence’, which you can listen to here.