"....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

No "Slipping" Or "Sliding"

"Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity.  I have also trusted in the Lord; I shall not slip."  (Psalm 26:1)

There is an internal strength implied here of which we should take particular note today.  The Word for, "slip," is translated by other versions as, "slide," "falter," literally, "I do not slide."

I have noticed something over the years of sojourn that everything about me seems at times to yield to, "slide," or, "falter," mode.  But the Lord Jesus Christ is exactly the incarnation of Deuteronomy 7:9, "Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments."  The Covenant in the Blood of Jesus is the "rock" of our lives.  Jesus is literally my "Keeper." 

We can be at times like boats which I have seen anchored in a bay.  While the winds and the waves come and go with variant intensity, the anchor keeps the boat from "sliding" out into "the deep," into lostness.  This is the work of Jesus Christ in our lives.  He is, "....the faithful God who keeps covenant...."  We can say also that Jesus is, "the faithful God who keeps...." 

We all know the popular phrase, "Jesus saves."  Here is an implicit one: "Jesus keeps."

Father, in Jesus' Name, I am so much thankful today for Your keeping me.  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

Listen "Hard"

"What do you know that we do not know?  What insights do you have that we do not have? (Job 15:9) 

Nothing like a little arrogance in problem solving.  There is nothing more degrading than to talk with someone who already knows what needs to be known.  Reading this time in Job, it came to me: What good did 40+ chapters of speculation do for Job and the 4 others?------- Nothing. 

At first it seems as though Job's "friends" were really friends; they sat with him and said nothing.  My Dad once said to me and a friend of mine that we "talk too much."  We were obviously in a "save-the-planet" mode.  I wonder how more people may be helped if more ministry, more counseling were to be of, "So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great." 

Ephesians 5:4 speaks of, "foolish talking."  That is apparently what we hear from the 4 would-be counselors in the Book of Job, because the Lord God condemns it all at the end of Job.  Words are good, if rooted in, "The Word of God," Himself, Jesus.  I also think that listening "hard" and long before saying something is also being a good friend.   

Have you ever noticed in the Gospels how Jesus' listening, then perceiving was healing itself?  He heard the blind man say, "Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me," but did our Lord Jesus perceive something more going on when he then asked, "What do you want me to do for you?"  Later we read of Zacchaeus, who said nothing, but in his silence Jesus again perceived his loneliness.  Can we say that Jesus never "assumed" anything?

The suffering of a lonely soul can be deep and potentially destructive. Perhaps the speculators' first "approach" to Job's suffering was the best. 

Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to never be a, "miserable comforter[]."  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