Teach Us to Number Our Days Heart of Wisdom

Teach Us to Number Our Days

Heart of Wisdom

 Do you feel like you are in a globe

and counting the days till you break free?

Psalms 90 gives some advice for breaking free.

Psalms 90 tells us

the strong live

to be 70 or 80 years of age.

If we were to number the days to age 80,

we arrive at 29,200.

Most of us are some where in the range from 1 to 29,200 days

and thank God for those who have been blessed with more.

I have lived just over 20,550 of those days.

As I look back on those days,

I can discover things that worked

and things that didn’t workout so well.

I can see patterns and themes.

The numbering of my past days will

help me realize what I have in order

to affect the 8,000 (or more) days left.

Your number of days will be different than mine

but all of us have passed days and future days.

The strange thing about it is it

all seems to go by so quickly.

James says it is like a vapor that appears

for a little time than vanishes.

Even though Psalms 90 says we live 70 to 80 years,

we need to see this is only one phase of our life.

In light of eternity, God looks at 1000 years as 1 day.

To a small child 10 minutes seems to be an eternity, but

to someone at age 50 who has lived 2,628,000 minutes,

realize that the days go by like the minutes to child.

Yes, in light of eternity,

our days will go by very fast,

yet God says they are important.

We are given the reason to number our days

and it is for the purpose of gaining

a heart of wisdom.

It is no wonder the Psalmist ends with a prayer…

“May Your grace rest upon us…

and establish the work of our hands.”

There is nothing more important to our days than

having God’s grace (favor) on us and our days.

The wisdom we gain from numbering our

days will reveal the things that worked

and the things that are not working.

Numbering our days will reveal

what God has blessed and

what He has not blessed.

When we gain this heart of wisdom, we will

find ourselves working smarter not harder.

Though you may have less days ahead of you,

those days can be more powerful

than the days of your past.

Scripture Reading

Psalms 90:17 NIV

Lord, you have been our dwelling place

throughout all generations.

2 Before the mountains were born

or you brought forth the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You turn men back to dust, saying,

 "Return to dust, O sons of men."

4 For a thousand years in your sight

are like a day that has just gone by,

or like a watch in the night.

5 You sweep men away in the sleep of death;

they are like the new grass of the morning —

 6 though in the morning it springs up new,

by evening it is dry and withered.

7 We are consumed by your anger

and terrified by your indignation.

8 You have set our iniquities before you,

our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9 All our days pass away under your wrath;

we finish our years with a moan.

10 The length of our days is seventy years

 — or eighty, if we have the strength;

yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,

for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

11 Who knows the power of your anger?

For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

12 Teach us to number our days aright,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13 Relent, O LORD!

How long will it be?

Have compassion on your servants.

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,

that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

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

for as many years as we have seen trouble.

16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,

your splendor to their children.

17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;

establish the work of our hands for us

— yes, establish the work of our hands.