On counting as a way of seeing
“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
The psalm before this verse is bleak: a thousand years are like yesterday, and a life is grass that withers by evening. Then, instead of despair, a request — to learn to count.
Counting is not dread. It is the ordinary act of knowing how many of something you have, which changes how you spend them. The psalmist's hope is that a heart which knows the days are numbered will stop treating them as endless.