Published 11/25/19
Read Psalm 90:12-14
"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days."
Reflect
What does Moses mean by "a heart of wisdom"? Why is wisdom important?
I've never tried this myself, but I've heard of people who write their own obituaries. Not because they're dying, but because they're reevaluating their life. They put down in words how they want to be remembered and then take an honest look at their life to see if they are on the right track.
That seems to be the idea behind Psalm 90, a psalm written by Moses. Moses starts the psalm with a brief affirmation that it is God that he follows. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations" (90:1, ESV).
Then Moses moves into the heart of what he has to say. And for being several thousand years old, these ideas are actually very current. "You return man to dust, " Moses says. From God's eternal perspective, the years fly by; "You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream" (90:3,5, ESV). If time is so insignificant in God's eyes, then mankind must surely be the same way.
"The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away" (90:10, ESV).
It's not too hard these days to find people with the same attitude towards life. "What's the point?" they say. "Nothing I do will matter anyway." But let's remember where Moses began this psalm. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations."
After looking at how bleak life can be, Moses realizes that a person's only chance for happiness lies in the one thing that is eternal--God!
"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.... Satisfy us in the morning with your love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.... Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us" (90:12,14,16-17, ESV).
Pray
Lord, thank you for being the one constant in my life who I can pin my future on. Please give me wisdom and guide my steps. Amen.