10 Our lives last^[a] seventy years
or, if we are strong, eighty years.
Even the best of them are^[b] struggle and sorrow;
indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10 CSB)

Man does not typically begin to think about his years until life gets long and our days seem short. Then we begin to realize just how quickly times flies and how those days that now seem to be numbered we desperately try to extend. They do indeed pass quickly and we fly away.

I am not sure that I would say that the best of them are struggle and sorrow. David used a lot of drama in writing the Psalms. He was trying to punctuate the passages with emotion that would lead the reader to ponder deeply the mysteries of God.

We should read these passages slowly and with an eye to measuring our lives against the scripture. We should take passages like today’s and ponder the days of our lives, how they have been lived and how we should live what days we have remaining. Doing this we can focus upon what might be bringing us struggle and sorrow and find that it is ourselves who are to blame. What have we sown and what are we reaping?

I think this is more important today in light of our eye to social media. People may, at times, post their sorrow there but it is far more likely that they only post the good times. As such we can find that we are filtering the days of our lives through the lens of others best times. Maybe bearing the weight of a king this is what David was doing when he wrote the Psalms. He was filtering the lens of his life through how he saw others living. Even a king can envy as the weight of the crown is great.

Are we filtering our lives through the wrong lens? Are we filtering it through the lens of envy or through the lens of God’s provision?