Number Our Days

J.J. Stark

January 2016

Week 3

IGNITE Class 10

Inductive Bible Study (IBS)

Number Our Days

“So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” – Psalm 90:12 (NKJV)

It’s a wonderful thing being young.  The prime period of energy and physical fitness, the feeling of freedom, with big dreams, plans, and aspirations, and the “invincible” mindset…seems like I could do anything I wanted to!  But what is all this “numbering my days” the Psalmist is talking about?  “…that I may gain a heart of wisdom.”???  Unfortunately, this generation that I (we) am coming up in, could care less about the number of days they have, let alone gaining a heart of wisdom.  I often find myself falling into that same rut, only thinking about “what makes me feel good, what I want, what I can I get – now.”  What a wakeup call this verse was!  I got to thinking about this, and wondered what Jesus had to say about this topic during His ministry.  Luke 21:34-36 answered this: “³⁴But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of the life and that Day come on you unexpectedly.  ³⁵For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”  Boy howdy is that right!  I so easily let my heart be weighed down with the cares of life that I take my eyes off the Lord and forget to be watchful for His return.  It true how everyone gets caught up with worries, but that doesn’t mean that it should take away from Christ’s calling for my life.  It is my duty as a Christian to make people more aware of that “snare” of worries, and to spread the news of the sacrifice Christ Jesus has made for us.  What’s really scary though, is that I only have a limited amount of time to raise that awareness on this earth, as both Psalms and Luke say!  Psalm 90:10 says, “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”  Oh Heavenly Father, I ask that in the hopeful seventy to eighty years I have, that You would grant me “a heart of wisdom,” so that I can “Watch therefore, and pray always that ‘I’ may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”  Time is ticking.  I am all of the sudden looking back, and realizing that almost 20 years of my life have been spent…and with not near enough impact for Christ as it needed to have.  Lord, let me live wholly for You in every moment I have left, that I could be a vessel to the lost and weighed down, that they would be freed in Your name from the snare of fleshy cares on earth.

Application: Today I will challenge my fellow interns to make every count for Christ in whatever they are doing, i.e., class, servant time, or free time amongst themselves.  I will also ask that they will hold me to the same standard, that I wouldn’t being challenging them without intending to do it myself.