So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
Another year whizzes by in a blur. Earlier this month I lamented to my youngest son, who lives in the area, that I do not see him and my granddaughters often enough. So, perhaps out of guilt, he and my granddaughters came by to visit the other night. When he entered our home he commented on our new floors. “When did you get your new floors?” “Last January,” I replied. In his busyness, he did not realize that it had been that long since he had visited inside our home, but to grandparents, that is a long time. However, in all fairness, our schedules have been just as busy, and time takes no breaks.
It is once again time to make resolutions (that will not be kept) for the New Year. I have resolved to read the Bible through in a year once more – a resolution that I will keep. I have given up on resolving to lose weight. That never works and leaves me feeling like a failure. 😦 At least by reading the Bible through in a year I can put on some “spiritual” weight.
No matter what we resolve to do in the New Year, the admonition of our starting verse should rise above and take priority over all other resolutions. Moses’ prayer request that God would “teach us to number our days” should be our prayer. In a previous verse he says, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (v. 10). By that estimation, my allotment of years numbers between six and sixteen years, but that is not what this verse is saying. The Hebrew word translated as “number” is mânâh, and it means to “weigh out” and by implication to “assign value to.” In other words, we need to ask God to teach us how to make our days count for something in God’s economy – in God’s economy. Of course, God is concerned for the well-being of His children. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, emphasis mine). Moses acknowledges this in the opening verse of this psalm: “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations” (v. 1). We are “housed” in His care and protection. We need not worry about our circumstances; God takes care of those details. We are to “occupy till [He comes]” (Luke 19:13).
Then as we learn to make our days count, we need to “apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Our “hearts” (not the organic pump that circulates blood through our bodies) is the motivating force of our being that drives us to strive for our desires. Our desires can be wicked: “For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth” (Psalm 10:3) or they can be righteous: “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee” (Psalm 73:25). If the latter, we can put them to work wisely. The word “wisdom” here is the translation of the Hebrew word chokmâh which can also mean “skillful.” Wisdom from a biblical perspective is the skill to practically apply the truths of God’s Word in our every-day lives. Jesus tells us to “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). As we learn to make our days count for God’s kingdom, He will provide the skill to apply His Word in our lives. The material stuff – He will also provide according to our “need.”
So, in 2015, Lord, teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Ernie's Musings 