A Very Personal Forty

Photo by Cup of Couple (Pexels)

For reasons unknown to us, the length of 40 – whether 40 days or 40 years – has been significant throughout biblical history: 

The great flood lasted 40 days.

Moses was on the mountain with God for 40 days before he brought down the Ten Commandments.

The establishment of the Kingdom of Israel was founded on its first three kings – Saul, David and Solomon – and each ruled for exactly 40 years.

The prophet Elijah fasted for 40 days.

Jesus fasted and prayed in the wilderness for 40 days.

Jesus walked the Earth for 40 days following His resurrection before returning to Heaven.

The common thread tying all of these together is that each period of 40 days or years was associated with something new—a new development in the history of God’s activity or new beginnings. In other words, God led people into various seasons of “40” – usually days, but sometimes years – for the purpose of inaugurating a new era or a new season in their lives. Forty days to turn things around. Forty days to change. Forty days to have one chapter of life end and another begin.

Think about it. In the Bible, every new chapter of God’s work was marked, at the onset, by some period of time related to 40:

  • the cleansing of evil from the world through the flood

  •  the journey of the people of Israel out of bondage and into the Promised Land

  •  the entire prophetic era

  •  the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus

  •  the birth of the Church

But it is also a time of completion. A milestone. Something achieved. In that spirit, forgive me if I spend some time reflecting on the number. You see, yesterday, I celebrated 40 years of marriage to my wife, Susan. 

I love my wife. I love growing old with her. I have loved every season of life with her, and this one most of all. 

I know—we live in a day when marriage seems to be held cheap. When affairs litter the landscape. It has created cynicism and suspicion, sadness and disillusionment, particularly toward those in spiritual leadership 

I get it.

I don’t know what to say to a watching world except one thing:

Happy 40th anniversary, honeybabe.

James Emery White

James Emery White