So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
On Tuesday of this last week, I completed my 69th lap around the sun. The Sunday before, June and I led the last lesson in the Crown ™ Do Well: The Crown Biblical Financial Study.[1] The lesson was on “Eternity,” and one of the questions we were asked to ponder was this: “Estimate the number of days you have left on earth. How does this impact your thinking?” Wow! That is a sobering thought! Psalm 90:10 brings this thought into sharp focus. “The days of our years are threescore years and ten [70]; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years [80], yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” For me, age 70 looms a mere 366 days (2020 is a leap year). And “if by reason of strength” I reach 80 years, that is only 4020 days away (there are three leap years between 2020-2030). For me, at least, that is not a lot of time. However, no one is guaranteed tomorrow; we are all living on borrowed time.
The same psalm, quoted above, offers a prayer to help us think soberly about the time we are given. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Time is a precious asset and to squander it on frivolity[2] is poor stewardship. Frivolity opposes “wisdom.” God gives us all the freedom to “apply our hearts unto wisdom” or to apply our hearts to frivolity. That was heavy food for thought.
Then on Friday, our devotional in Days of Praise: “Redeeming the Time,”[3] by ICR’s founder, Dr. Henry M. Morris brought this thought back to mind. In the devotional, Dr. Morris points out that “time is a very valuable asset, in danger of being lost forever unless it is rescued or redeemed.” It occurs to me that we experience the “present” in nanoseconds.[4] We constantly move from the past into the future, so when we misuse time, that is lost forever. Therefore, the only way to “redeem” time is to redeem it in the “future” toward which we are moving. That requires thought and planning – always.
Dr. Morris further asserts, “If we squander our money or lose our health, there is always the possibility of earning more money or being restored to health, but wasted time is gone forever.”
As I begin my 70th trip around the sun, I want to remember what a precious commodity time is. I what to remember that the time I am given is not mine and it can be taken away from me at any time. Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal … But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:19-20, 33). My time belongs to God; therefore I want to invest it wisely in His kingdom. “So teach [me] to number [my] days, that [I] may apply [my] heart unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).
Notes:
[1] Crown Financial Ministries website: https://www.crown.org/
[2] Dictionary.Com definition of : frivolous: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/frivolous
[3] Henry M. Morris, Ph.D., “Redeeming the Time”: https://www.icr.org/article/11211/
[4] “No Time Like the Present”: https://erniecarrasco.com/2015/01/18/no-time-like-the-present/
Ernie's Musings 