Counting Days

The past two days I have been looking at Psalm 90; a psalm written by Moses. This really isn't one of my favorite Psalms. When I turned to it to study it, I found there was nothing hi-lited in it (which is fairly unusual for the Psalms in my Bible!) It looked kind of neglected and forlorn with no color!

The psalm talks about the eternalness of God, the brevity of our lives, the wrath of God for our sin, and his mercy available to us. And in all of this, I found something I wanted to hi-lite. It's verse 12: Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

I want a heart of wisdom. I long for wisdom. And Moses says here that it may be gained by first realizing how brief our lives are. As I look back on 2005 and take account of my days, I realize just how fast that life is breezing by: from earliest memories til today it has seemed like nothing more than a breath. (Just look at how fast the kids have grown- it blows you away!) And what do I have to show for it so far? Is it enough that if God would claim my life today that I would be satisfied?

Oh, no! I am not satisfied! There is so much growing to be done. There is so much about my Creator and Savior that I don't know! And realizing that I have passed the 1/2 way mark that Moses states in verse 10 puts a little pressure on! There are only so many days of my life yet to be lived. There were only 365 extremely brief days in 2005. There is no guarentee that 2006 will have that many or that they will be even as long as the ones in 2005! There is much to be accomplished. Much wisdom to be gained.

So I will start 2006 with a knowledge of my finiteness. I resolve to count my days. I will pray with Moses that I will be surprised by God's love every morning that it will cause me to dance with joy! (verse 14, The Message) I will ask, like Moses, that God's beauty and favor will rest upon me and confirm, affirm, and establish the work that I do (verse 17). May 2006 be a profitable year for us all!