There’s nothing like being sick to remind us of our frailty and mortality. June fell on December 7 and broke several small bones in her pelvis. Right after she turned the corner on January 15, my prostate decided to act up. I’ve been out of commission ever since, now awaiting surgery coming up in a few days.

Psalm 39 is clear. Life is temporary:

LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, And does not know who will gather them. (Psalm 39.4 – 6, NKJV)

James agrees:

For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. (James 4.14, NKJV)

As does Moses in Psalm 90:

For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh. The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90.9 – 12, NKJV)

As June and I approach 80, we’ve been keenly aware that our warranties ran out at age 70! I pointed this out to Pastor John who called to check on me recently, and he responded: “To be exchanged by a lifetime warranty.” Amen.