Oops. I guess sometimes scheduling blogs posts to go when you’re not finished with them yet doesn’t quite work out. Here we go again!

Take two:

My dear friends in St. Louis have an annual tradition of choosing a “word of the year.” This year they chose one for me. Guess what it was???

Wisdom.

So I began studying the word ‘wisdom’ in the scriptures.  One thing I decided to look up was where the word ‘wisdom’ and the word ‘heart’ appear together which led me to Psalm 90.

So turn with me to Psalm 90.  The subtitle for this psalm is “A prayer of Moses,  the man of God.”

Read along with me.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!”

For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.

These first four verses show us the everlasting, eternal nature of our God, in stark contrast of the temporary, temporal nature of human life here on earth. This is how this psalm begins – pondering the nature of God as compared with the nature of man.

The next seven verses continue this theme but emphasizing God’s righteous judgment and wrath on sinful humankind.

But then you come to verse 12. A special verse nestled in the middle of reflection on God’s eternality and our brevity.

“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. “

So, how do we get a heart of wisdom?

By numbering our days. By realizing how brief our lives are. Living them out in a daily appreciation for how short life is in light of the nature of God who is from everlasting to everlasting.

And then this beautiful psalm ends with

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.

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, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

In God’s perfect timing, I’ve been thinking about this blog post for several days but was never quite able to finish it. Yesterday, two significant events happened.

One, Bill’s 87-year-old grandfather ended up in the hospital again. The third time in a month. Heart problems.

Two, my pastor and his wife who had just announced Sunday that they were expecting their third baby, shared that their newest baby blessing had passed from this life into the presence of the everlasting God.

And there it is. The critical importance of numbering our days, from first to last. From the youngest little babe to the ripe old age.

Father, teach us to number our days. To live every moment as it might be our last. To thank You and be glad even as many days as we are afflicted, to rejoice and be glad all our days as we are satisfied with your steadfast love.

Amen

TWIG