"....That We May Gain A Heart Of Wisdom"

"So teach us to number (count) our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."  (Psalm 90:12)

I don't know if I ever really pondered our text.  I have today.  One thing seems to be clear to me: There is a connection between, "number our days," and, "wisdom."  The question is: How does numbering our days"....gain a heart of wisdom"?

There are so many ways which the Word for, "teach," can be translated.  I'm sure Hebrew scholars have a reason for choosing, "teach," though the same Word is translated, for instance, "clearly understand, know," elsewhere in the Bible.  Could we translate our text, "Clearly understand our days," or, "Know our days"?  Somehow, it seems to me, an understanding of, "our days," helps us have a Kingdom perspective, such as knowing that our life here is limited, or we have only so much time, which is not the predestinarian's, "When your time is up, it's up," but rather, "It is appointed unto men once to die...." How do we live, "our days," in such light? 

55 years ago tomorrow, the President of the United States of America was murdered.  There is even a film which caught the exact moment.  Lives were shattered.  Disillusionment set in for so many, and I can say that the succeeding years were profoundly affected.  Living a life based on our text, however, is a victorious life.  Life's surprises do not have to be life's defeat.  Only when we consider that we are a "limited" race, can we begin to have, "the wisdom that is from above."  Yet I can say that in our limitation is the "break-out" reality which Jesus declared to humanity, "I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die."

I'm not sure I came to anything here today, but I pray it may spur you on to, "clearly understand our days," or to, "know our days."  And, in our text it is not, "the times, or seasons," which fascinate so many today.  Today, our Lord Jesus Christ in our text is calling us to--- "number Our days." 

Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray again, "So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2