Little Flock

Short Prayer

Thank you Lord God for this moment of sharing spiritual knowledge, may You bless us all with understanding and wisdom throughout this journey, in the mighty name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Bible Reading: Psalm 90:10-12 (NIV)

“10. Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. 11. If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due. 12. Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Insights

As with the early days of God’s people, men have lived for quite a long time; for instance: “…Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.” [Genesis 5:27 (NIV)]. Human lifespan was then reduced to 120 years after that [Genesis 6:3 (NIV)]. In today’s times, according to United Nations’ studies [1], the average human lifespan is about 78-79 years. Realizing how brief our time in this world is, it’s normal that we worry about our future, the future of our kids, our family and loved ones; but God teaches us to have faith and release our anxiety to Him. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” [Matthew 6:34 (NIV)]. Thinking about our children, the young generation, how will they be when we leave? As parents or elders, we have our responsibility to “start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” [Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)].

The phrase: “Teach us to number our days” is a prayer asking God’s guidance for us to realize the brevity (shortness) of life and how limited is our time in this world that we should make the best use of it to “gain a heart of wisdom”. Wisdom is important because the choices we make during our brief stay on earth have eternal consequences.  Remember this: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” [2 Corinthians 5:10 (NIV)]. So as we age, we should be grateful for God’s gift of life; and constantly evaluate ourselves whether our spiritual lives are progressing with complete faith in Him. Have we been practicing the teachings of God? Are there still weaknesses in us that we need to overcome? May our self-assessment be guided with what the Bible says “…May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. [1 Thesalonians 5:23 (NIV)]

Jesus also explained, through a parable, what happens when we don’t “number our days”.  The Parable of the Rich Fool [Luke 12:13-21 (NIV)] was about a man who spent all of his time striving for earthly possessions; and when he thought he had the time to enjoy those things, “God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”.  If the rich man had learned to “number his days,” he would have pursued things that had eternal significance. We can learn from this parable that none of us know how many days we will be granted, that’s why we must not waste them on pursuits that have no real value. Time is like money, we account for it from thousands to cents. We have a spiritual bank and an earthly bank, deciding on which one to enrich with our interest is crucial. Therefore, let’s be careful not to fill our lives up with worldly desires nor invest our time and attention on the things not of God. “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” [Colossians 3:2 (NIV)]. Let us remember this in every moment we get to choose where we will spend our time. It may be as little as a few minutes that turn into hours and days until whatever we do unknowingly becomes a habit that could snatch our focus away from God.

To further learn about the moral benefits and supremacy of wisdom, and how it is the Way of the Pure, let us take time to read and meditate the book of Proverbs chapters 2 through 4. May God all-powerful grant us with a strong desire that is geared towards gaining spiritual wisdom.

Praise the Lord God for the reading of His word, and may God bless us all in Jesus’ name, Amen.

[1] https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=PopDiv&f=variableID%3A68