“Oh, Lord, make me know my end, and what is the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting I am.”
– Psalm 39:4
Psalm 39:4 is a good verse to meditate on today and pray according to David’s prayer here in this song. That God would give him a right perspective of his life. Specifically the length of his life, being so short compared to all of eternity, which is how the Bible speaks about our lives, right? Your life is a mist. It’s a vapor. It’s here one second, and gone the next. “Lord, make me know my end, and what is the measure of my days let me know how fleeting I am.”
Every interaction you have with other people, make them count for what’s going to matter forever.
In other words, God help me to see that the moments I have and the days I have are numbered. So, help me to make them count for your glory. In the very beginning of this Psalm, David is talking about every word he says. Think about that, to speak today with wisdom. And every word you say, to make your words count. Every interaction you have with other people, to make them count in ways that are good for them and glorifying to God. To make them count for what’s going to matter forever.
God help us to share the good news of Jesus with our words, right? What else can you or I say to someone else today that has the potential to transform their lives for the next 10 trillion years and beyond? If there’s something we have to say today that can affect people for all of eternity, then we should probably say it. That’s what we have in the gospel. So, God, we pray today that you would give us a right perspective of our lives. Help us to live today in light of eternity, and help us, we pray, to measure our days. To make them count maximally for your glory.
Psalm 39:4 Reminds Us to Serve God with These Moments
God, we pray that every word we speak, every interaction we have today with family, friends, work, with church, with unbeliever. With people we meet that we weren’t even expecting to meet today, God, help us to make every interaction count. God, we pray that every hour today would be used for your glory, that we would not take for granted any hour that you give us, and God, that you would help us to glorify you in the moment by moment in this mist that you’ve given to us in ways that resound to your glory for all of eternity.
To others, good God, we pray you would give us boldness to share the gospel today. We pray that we might lead people to relationship with you today in ways that will echo through eternity. God, we pray, we pray for so many people in the world whose lives are also short, and if they don’t hear about you before they die, will spend an eternity separated from you. God, we pray for the 7 million Tajiks into Tajikistan. Almost all of them have never even heard the good news of your love in Jesus.
Prayer For the Tajk People
God, I think about missionary friends of mine who’ve gone to the Tajik people. Who’ve lived hard lives and made hard decisions. Who have experienced suffering and challenges and hardship so that the Tajik might know your love. They’ve spent their lives maximally for your glory among the Tajik. So, God, we pray. We pray for your blessings on those who are going. We pray that you would raise up more who will go. And, God, we pray for all of our lives that you would help us to live for the spread of the gospel right around us and far from us, including to the Tajik of Tajikistan. God, please, please, please, cause our lives to count today and each day you give us maximally for your glory through our lives among all the nations.
God, we pray that together. Make this mist you’ve given us count maximally for our good, for others’ good. For the spread of your gospel, for your glory among the nations, and we trust in all of this for our good. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
