I NEED TO LEARN TO NUMBER MY DAYS!

LEARNING IS NOT BY CHANCE; IT COMES WITH EFFORT

Psalm 90:12

So teach us to number our days

that we may get a heart of wisdom.

This is a very well-known verse, which many of us have heard and maybe tried to apply to our lives. It is interesting that when the psalmist uses the word, ‘teach’, he implies several things. First, that we don’t know how, without God’s help; we need to be taught. We don’t know, left to ourselves, what really gives value to our days; we don’t know how to make choices that cause us to use our days correctly; we don’t even know what we should desire for our days. It is obvious that this verse tells us that our ultimate goal is to obtain a wise heart.

Moses begins with two clear starting points: God is where we should dwell and God has been God forever. In other words, there is no other place where we should go for wisdom. Only God is eternal. He has directed all, from eternity past and will do it forever.

Only those men who truly recognize God as the only source of wisdom and themselves as just dust, will be the ones who can learn to use their days correctly.

God is infinite and we are finite. Man has to submit to nature, God is the one that controls it. God is the one that gives life, man is temporary. God’s anger can stop the most rebellious man in a split second. Man’s sins are exposed and visible to God and can be judged instantly by God. Our lives are finite and temporary, so we should live them in light of the eternal perspective that God has.

Man struggles and toils, but if our efforts are not for God what value do they have? Man living for himself is only accumulating judgment and wrath from God!

I look at my life, and with shame I see that I am so prone to toil, worry, and complain over those things that have no eternal value. It seems that daily I need to go back to school to find out what has true value. I need to redirect my thoughts, my desires, my actions to what is not temporary, earthly, and worthless.

Psalm 90:13

Return, O LORD! How long?

Have pity on your servants!

When will we long for heavenly things? Oh, do we ever need the pity of God! I need God’s mercy and grace! I need to go to the school of eternal values.

May our request become the same as the author’s, as we reflect on this psalm.

Psalm 90:14

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,

that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Every day should begin with a healthy meditation on the unchanging love of God.  The joy of our days cannot depend upon our circumstances or the behavior of other people, but only upon our reflection and awareness of God’s immutable and perfect love.

Psalm 90:15

Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

and for as many years as we have seen evil.

We know that the Bible teaches us that all difficulties fulfill a purpose of God in our lives. He is transforming us into the image of His Son.

James 1:2-4

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

           

Psalm 90:16

Let your work be shown to your servants,

and your glorious power to their children.

It should be obvious to those observing us that God is working in us. Only what we do by God’s strength and God’s transformation brings glory to Him. Let me add, it will not be through the easy times that His work in us can be seen, but during our hard times!

Psalm 90:17

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish the work of our hands upon us;

yes, establish the work of our hands!

Our ability and possibility of doing anything is in God’s hands. Way too often we are frustrated, not because we don’t accomplish what God wants us to do, but because we don’t do what we want to do.

Numbering our days, using our lives wisely… an ongoing lesson for all of us! Our priorities –our goals –our decisions –our actions –our attitudes -  all depend on learning to make our earthly lives count in eternal ways!

The goal is a heart of wisdom – and wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord!