Our days are numbered

Someone close to me, a professing Christian, once disputed whether or not a persons days are numbered. I said something to the effect of…our days were numbered before we were born, the day we die was set long before we took our first breath. There is nothing we can do to change that. This person stood in front of me and said ‘yes, unless you’re murdered. Yes, unless you get in a car accident. Yes, unless you fall down the stairs and break your neck.’

The more I tried to explain there was no unless…our days were set before we were born, and were actually set long before that…the more this person argued that there was an unless. We may be supposed to die when we’re 60 but if we get pneumonia and stop breathing then our days were cut short. And on and on the debate went until I said…okay.

I gave up. It wasn’t worth it anymore. This person couldn’t see something I clearly saw in Scripture and it wasn’t worth continuing a conversation that was rapidly approaching an argument.

I gave up. I left this person to their unless. No matter how hard I tried to explain my reasoning, no matter how hard I tried to explain, they just couldn’t see it. So I let it go. I gave up. I mentally threw my hands in the air and walked away from the conversation.

This person that was important in my life, that had in fact had an effect on my own faith, couldn’t see something I considered so basic. Something that Scripture plainly said.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.  Psalm 139:16

How this person couldn’t understand that I still don’t know. In your book were written…the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. What in that isn’t clear? What of it is hard to understand?

If that isn’t clear enough the NIV puts it this way…

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

It’s there. Plain as day. Black and white. Easy to read. Everytime I look at Psalm 139:16…there it is.

Our days are numbered.

There are other verses that speak of our days being numbered. Matthew 6:27 says…

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Luke 12:25…

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

But this person was so sure. So set. So convinced that there was an unless. There is no unless. Our days are numbered. If we’re murdered today it’s because that was the way the Lord had it planned. That was the method He used to end our life. If we die in a car accident that was the Lord’s plan for our death.

No unless.

Just the end of the number of days we were allotted.

But try as I might I couldn’t convince this person of that. I couldn’t get them off the thought of unless. Our days are numbered unless…

Is the Lord not soverign? Is it not within His power to stop someone from harming us? Is it not within His power to keep us out of an accident? Is it not within His power to keep us from falling down the stairs?

I’ve heard of accidents that left the first responders shocked that someone survived them. They tell the person there’s no way they should have lived through the accident and here the person is standing in front of them unharmed. There was no unless that day. That person’s days weren’t up yet, it wasn’t there time to die. So they didn’t. The Lord kept them safe when they shouldn’t have been.

My grandmother used to tell me that when my day to die came there was nothing I could do to stop it. That if I stayed home because I might get in a car accident then if it was my day to go an air plane would fall out of the sky and land on top of me. As a child I think those statements held part worry and part morbid fascination. What child truly believes they’re going to die? Certainly not me. Death was an abstract concept. People spoke of death but I, like most kids, didn’t grasp the full concept. And I certainly didn’t think about my own death.

As I grew older the idea of death became more real. I began to understand it a little better and eventually I began to fear it.

Somewhere along the line I lost that fear.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21

Now the only concern I have over death is the pain my loved ones would feel at my departure. I’ve made peace with the fact that my days are numbered. My Lord has my life in His hands and that includes my death.

But as a child the thought of avoiding a car accident only to be smashed by an airplane was a bit…worrisome. Car accidents bring pain. And I couldn’t fathom being crushed by an airplane falling out of the sky. Did airplanes fall out of the sky? I know they do now…but as a child…I’d never heard of such a thing happening until my grandmother said it.

So the seed for knowing my days were numbered were planted in me in childhood, long before I ever began to grasp the Truths of Scripture.

And then came the day that this person, who should have known our days were numbered better than I, stood before me all but ready to do battle over…unless.

Hard as I tried there was no getting past the unless with this person. I wanted to. I truly did. I wanted to help this person see this small Truth. It’s not big. It’s not hard to understand. Many people speak of ‘the days we’re given’, ‘the days of our life’ or other statements that mean the same thing. I thought for sure this person, who had heard my grandmother say those same things I had heard her say, would be able to understand.

But they couldn’t.

Finally in frustration and sadness I mentally threw my hands up and let it go. I left this person with their belief in unless. That day…for me…that was all I did. I let them go on believing in unless.

But looking back…knowing what I know now…there was more to it. There was an underlining issue that I couldn’t see at that time.

When I said our days are numbered, what I meant was the Lord has assigned me a certain number of days. He’s already decided my end. He made the decision for my life. He set the course. He wrote the plan. He is in control.

He is in control.

And there was the big difference. There lay the problem.

This person was saying…God gave us a certain number of days but if a bad person does something to cut those days short than we die before our time. They were saying…God gave us a certain number of days but if an accident happens and we die then our days were cut short. They were saying…God gave us so many days but if we’re careless and we fall down the stairs and break our neck than we loose out on some of those days He allotted for us.

What this person was saying was that God gave us so many days but that circumstances outside His control could cut those days short. In effect this person was saying that man had more power than God. They were basically saying that God might have a plan but man could override it. Man could change the plan. Man could make the choice to commit murder, drive a car into a ditch, or carelessly fall down the stairs and therefore cut their allotted days short despite what God had planned.

They were saying man’s choices could override the plan of God. Man could choose to do something that would change the plan God had planned.

So while I was standing there trying so hard to show this person that the Lord had planned our days and assigned the final moment we would draw breath this person was standing there believing that man can affect the plan of God.

This discussion happened years ago, back when I didn’t realize what I was seeing in Scripture. Back when I didn’t know that people see Scripture in either a man centered or God centered way.

What I didn’t know then was that the discussion I thought centered only around our days being numbered held a deeper difference than just how we saw that. And the sad thing is…I didn’t see that that difference all came down to God or man centered until I was writing this post.

That single discussion with this person has affected the last several years. Ever since that discussion I have tried very hard not to discuss anything Scriptural with this person. I avoid discussions like that if at all possible because that day…for me…I understood that I couldn’t see things the way this person did and that to try and show them how I saw it would create an argument. So I stopped discussing anything Scriptural with this person.

I could talk about the basics but only if I kept it very superficial because to go beyond that would create strife and differing opinions.

I understand why now…have for a while…but until today I didn’t fully understand what had happened during that conversation. It wasn’t about the topic…it was about God vs man.

Our days are numbered because Scripture tells us they are. Our days are numbered because the Lord planned our lives and our deaths. Our days are numbered because to say they’re changeable would be to take God’s sovereignty, His power, His divine nature away from Him.