Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you. Ps. 139:16-18 (NIV)
Heavenly Father, I woke up today as a 70-year-old son of yours. It’s the first birthday number that has gotten my attention. But with David I can honestly say, “How precious to me are your thoughts” (Ps. 139:17).
Though my years, for the first time, feel a tiny bit “vast,” my thoughts about you are far more precious and vast. What you reveal about yourself in the Scriptures, and what you declare to be true about us in the Gospel, is worship-fueling, heart-liberating, and joy-igniting.
Father, it’s a source of phenomenal peace and freedom to know you have ordained all our days for us. Providence, not happenstance or circumstance, reigns over all things—including the length of our lives. We won’t live one day more, or one day less, than you decree. Nothing can snatch us from Jesus’ hand, separate us from your love, or derail your purpose for our lives. Hallelujah!
Your name is Redeemer, not Re-do—the God who restores years “eaten by locusts,” and squandered by our foolishness. Through Jesus, you’re making all things new, including us. Our suffering and sorrows have an expiration date; but we are just a tiny bit joyful as you intend.
Father, may the rest of my days, months, and years be filled with an even greater grasp of the only love that is better than life—your outrageous love for us in Jesus. I am SO grateful for the big ole Gospel-Posse you have given me with which to finish the rest of my life.
Continue to open the curtains much wider on the heart-liberating, cosmos-transforming goodness of the Gospel to me. Everything else will take care of itself. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ merciful and mighty name.