With The Time That I Have
We count alot of things. Calories, money, days, minutes, seconds. Personally I love to know exactly what is in my budget, and schedule whenever possible. Counting things helps us to have security, to make plans, and keeps us out of trouble in general. When I was in Bible school a man preached a message titled “in all of your counting count on God”. I don’t remember all the details of that message but that statement has stayed with be for years. Sometimes the numbers just dont add up. Sometimes we are looking at the bills and we come up short. Sometimes we come up short in our own lives, but in all of our counting we should count on God.
I love psalm 90. It has a focus on time that I
would like to look at today.
¶ [[A Prayer of Moses the man of God.]] Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. 3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. 4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. 5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. 6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth. 7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. 8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. 9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. 10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. 13 Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. 14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. 16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. 17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
The first part of this psalm explores how God is outside of time. “You have been our dwelling place in all generations!” The psalmist is saying that regardless of the time period, God is still God, and he is our dwelling place. Think about that. In ancient times, in modern times, in good times and in bad times He is still God. Then he goes futher and says “even before the mountains were brought forth”. Thats right, before the ancient times God is still God! Then the famous line “even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God”.
You know, we might feel like the world has changed alot in the last few months, and really it has. But the truth is that there is an all loving, all knowing, all caring God on the throne of the universe, ready and waiting to hear our call! Is He your dwelling place? Is he the one that you go to when everything goes crazy?
How can the God really be in control with the world the way it is? Verse number three gives us some insight into that very question. “Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.” God takes the hard times that come and uses them as a way of saying “come back to me”. When we find ourselves in the middle of hard times we must look back at the timeless truth that God is God. He is there for us, yet he will also judge us for our unrepentant sin. The psalmist talks about being troubled by the wrath of God, being consumed in His anger.
Verses 3-11 really puts on display the vastness of God, and the smallness of man. Its as though He could just blow us all away in one breath. And He could. But He doesnt. Instead He sends us another time. He lets us feel the heat of His anger for a moment. He lets us see that we really dont cantrol our own lives, long enough for us to learn to trust in Him. Long enough for us to seek His face. Our years truly are short in comparison to eternity. They are like “a tale that is told” like grass that grows up and whithers away. Do we really want to spend our short time on this earth dealing with the wrath of God in our lives? Living with the destruction that sin brings?
The next thing that the psalmist says is exactly what we ought to do in our times of difficulty “Lord teach us to number our days that we might apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
we dont live forever. Obvious, I know, but there will be a day that we stand before God and give an answer for the things we have done in our lives. Soooo, we have to learn to apply our hearts unto wisdom.
To intellectually know what the right thing is in our heads is one thing. But to truly apply our hearts to wisdom is totally different. I have a piano lesson every week. And every week my teacher gives me a song to learn and and I will go through it. I cant tell you how many times I have barely squeaked by and proceeded to never use a song for months in church. Why? Because being taught is one thing, cramming practice just before my lesson is easy, (and thats a super bad habit I know), but applying the lesson is different. During the lesson I am in my own home, and it is a song that I have to play. but in church I have an audience and playing something new is pure initiative. Its so much easier to just play the song Im comfortable with. But if we are going to live to the glory of God we have to learn to step outside of what is comfortable and actually do what God wants us to do.
Ephesians 5:14-19 helps us see that Gods idea of using our time wisely, is to use it righteously. “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;.”
With the time that we do have, be careful, live right. Do what God has called you to do. The time that we have been given is a gift from God. Too often I find myself wasting the precious gift that God has given me of time. To often we have plans to great things for God. We say that one day we will surrender, but life happens and we keep going our own way.
My dad was not raised in a Christian home. But he did know some people who really loved God, and lived what they beleived. And he really like it. He saw their lifestyle was so different from his own, and the purpose that God had given them was something special. They talked to him about eternity and he knew he needed to get right with God. Being a strategic sort of guy, my dad devised a plan. He would live his life as he pleased and when he reached retirement age, he would surrender his life to God. It sounded like a solid plan. But life has a way of throwing you curve balls, and living for yourself never satisfies like living for God. At the age of twenty eight, my dad gave his heart and life to God.
That decision dramatically changed the course of our lives. He would go on to work and travel throughout Mexico and Central America preaching the gospel, he raised seven children to live for God and love one another, today he has brought his Biblical worldview to public office, and has impacted the state that they live in. You know what? My dad is just now reaching the age that he had planned on giving his life to God. What if he hadnt made that decision? What if he hadn’t lived for God all of those years? Would he have had the chance to get right with God? Would He have wanted it? Thats over thirty years of Christlike work and influence! I know that my life and many others were eternally impacted, and I am grateful for the decision he made.
2 Corinthians 6:2 says “For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Now is the time to surrender to God, now is the time to fully live for him! Dont wait! Your decision doesn’t just affect you, but it can affect everyone around you.
The truth is, my dad was not guaranteed sixty years. For that matter neither am I. We are not promised tomorrow, so Lord, teach us to number our days, that we might apply our hearts unto wisdom.
If you are not saved, now is the time to get saved! If you aren’t surrendered to God now is the time to do it. If your heart is not right with God, now is the time, today is the day to give yourself all the way to Him!