TEACH US TO NUMBER OUR DAYS

Reading: Psa 90:1 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.

Text: 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

Intro:
Proposition or aim of this message: That we might get a fix on the ’Pole Star’ of eternity and be able to chart our course.

I. This MUST be taught from God’s perspective.
A. Man’s view is limited to vague memories of the past, temporal ambitions of the present, and changing, uncertain hopes for a ’maybe’ tomorrow.

B. Man’s efforts are vanity.
Ecc 1:3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

Ecc 2:11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

II To number days - - Using our time wisely
The following poem reflects my thoughts while waiting when our daughter’s school play program was delayed.

THE TREE OF TIME

From the tree of time, one by one,
Like leaves, the moments fall;
And in moldering piles, lie useless
That held such promise in the spring!

No hope to make them green again,
But through them, lessons learned,
Like mulch on tomorrow’s garden,
Leaves of yesterday live on.

Each year a bough to bear the fruit
That gives purpose to the tree;
Each thought and deed, within itself,
Enfolding living seed.

Waste! the blight which turns the leaves
And withers budding hours,
And burdens the bough with bitter fruit,
Enfolding seed of sorrow.

Ideas, desires, but frail blossoms;
Yet shielded from the icy winds
Of discouragement and greed, prosper,
And bring the joyous harvest.

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A. Churches, as well as individuals, must learn this.
I Tim 1:4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.

B. Many have done their greatest work in their later years because only then did they learn to number their days. For this cause Paul wrote to Timothy;
I Tim 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

C. Preparing for old age in commendable but preparing for judgment and eternity is the epitome of wisdom! This is the thrust of Jesus’ teaching in:
Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

III Christ is made unto us WISDOM.
I Cor 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
A. The wisest move a lost soul can make is to accept Christ.
B. The most commendable life a child of God can live is one dedicated to Christ.
c. The highest plane of human accomplishment is to worship Him!