2008-10-14 11:02:00
“So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). “Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days” (Psalm 90:14).
Today is a significant day for me. This is the 19,725th day since my birth. However, of course, we don’t normally think of events like these in terms of days, but rather years.
The Psalms are normally associated with David, but David did not write Psalm 90. It was written by Moses who lived about 400 years before David. Yet some inspired compiler placed his writing in the midst of the Psalm collection in the Holy Scriptures. I find the heading of this Psalm in the NASV so interesting; “God’s Eternity and Man’s Transitoriness.” Transitoriness is not even in my online spellchecker but means “of brief duration.” James 4:14 describes this transitoriness, “You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
I don’t know how many more days I have on this earth or what my future holds. But I have learned that in the course of my life I can’t choose or schedule my trials. As a line in an old hymn states, “Every joy or trial falleth from above, traced upon our dial by the sun of love; We may trust Him fully, all for us to do – They who trust Him wholly, find Him wholly true.”*
Our daily verse is in the form of a petition. Moses writes, “Teach us to number our days.” The plural is interesting and I include myself with Moses and others in making this petition. Moses lived some 43,800 days, but it seems to me that he wasn’t likely referring to keeping an up to date count of the days since our birth (although some do this.) Rather I believe he is calling us to recognize and give attention to the blessings and responsibilities of each day.
The purpose of numbering our days is “that we may present to You (God) a heart of wisdom.” This should be a foundational goal in life and a lifelong pursuit. Again James reminds us that “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (1:5). In light of the times we are facing we should be seeking God’s wisdom through earnest study of His holy Word. Then we are able to exercise spiritual discernment as we listen to or read the news.
Moses goes on to say a couple of verses later, “Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days” (Psalm 90:14). The deepest source of satisfaction for the believer is God’s unfailing love. It is unwavering and inexhaustible; “Though the mountain be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken” (Isaiah 54:10). As an old song says, “the world didn’t give it to me and the world can’t take it away!”
Today in numbering our days let us recognize that, “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” There are no leap days on God’s calendar. Every single day we awaken is a gift from Him and we must choose day by day to glorify God and serve Him with all our hearts.
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Father, often the days converge into another and before we know it a year has passed. Help us to be keenly aware of each new day and the opportunity it holds for us to be engaged in our Father’s business. We want to daily turn to Your holy Word for wisdom so that we will present to You a heart full of godly wisdom and a life fully surrendered to You. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
* Like A River Glorious
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