A Vapor of Time

“So teach us to number our days that we may incline our hearts unto wisdom” Psalm 90:12

The Bible describes our time on earth as a vapor, here for a little while and then gone. I got to thinking about this verse as I was out on my walk this morning. I looked up at the sky, it was a beautiful shade of cornflower blue, with the streaks of gentle cirrus clouds floating above. I thought of the description of our lives, as a vapor. I looked up at the streaks of white, vapors stretching across the atmosphere. One seemed to perch atop a tree limb, but did not appear to be moving. However as I gazed up at it, sure enough within a matter of seconds the streaks had ascended further in height and clearly were moved from their place. I thought to myself, how true it is that our lives are like these vapors I watch in the sky. The movement seems unnoticeable, yet if you fix your eyes upon them, they are ever traveling and in motion. Soon they are gone. Here, for a little while, yet so quickly they disappear.

Life is passing. Somehow we ignorantly imagine our lives won’t end. We delude ourselves with the magical thinking that we aren’t going anywhere, yet time catches up to us and reproves our foolishness. We are indeed moving every moment of every day towards our departure. In fact , an appointment has been set, and the day soon arrives, as scheduled, as planned.

Our lives are a vapor, what does this mean? In a practical sense, it means everything around us is temporal. Nothing is forever. We are in a constant state of change, and movement, nearing a destination. In pondering this truth, the Bible gives a very profound word of counsel. The writer of Proverbs admonishes us, get wisdom, get understanding, for it is worth more than choice silver, or fine gold. Wisdom and understanding are eternal, they are of infinite value because of the eternal rewards that they bring. For what value does fine gold have to a vapor, here today , but gone tomorrow.

To number our days, to understand our brief walk through this life and the vapor like quality of our time here, is to gain wisdom. To use our time for the glory of God and the communion with His Son Jesus Christ is to gain the highest level of understanding attainable in this life.