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, even from everlasting to everlasting You are God… For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night. You carry them away like a flood; they are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up: In the morning it flourishes and grows up; in the evening it is cut down and withers… So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90: 1, 2, 4-6, 12, NKJV.
Dear God, all around us we see signs of death and destruction; or the threat of disaster. Help us, at this time in earth’s history, to look to You, for wisdom to live wisely with our sight on eternity. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
One of the aspects of God that never fails to challenge my imagination is His eternality (yes, that is a word)! Because we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17: 28), within time, eternity is hard, I dare say, impossible, for us to grasp! Yes, we repeat the words, “from everlasting to everlasting;” or, “without beginning or end,” but we do not really, fully, understand the concept?
Our Scripture today, begins by talking to us about the fact that God is eternal. The psalmist uses the imagery of the mountains, and the creation of the earth, and the world, to prompt our imagination as to what eternity must look like. Before, the earth and the world were created; and we were not even around, when they were created; he seems to be saying, even before all of this came into being, God was God! That is his best attempt at describing eternity; and we are still at a loss!
Next, he goes on to describe man’s finitude. He uses the figure of God simply speaking: “Return, O children of men,” (3), and human beings cease to exist. He compares a thousand years to one day, as the difference between the way we measure time, in comparison to the way time is seen by God. He borrows the symbol of grass – fresh in the morning; withering by the end of day, to demonstrate just how fragile human beings are; and more so, as we look at ourselves alongside an infinite God. He tries His best to “paint the picture.” He is trying to tell us something!
In the light of all that we have seen of God, and what we know about ourselves, should we not live our lives wisely? Because we do not know how, or when, it could end (we know that it will end); should we not make every day count? Should we not diligently seek to “gain a heart of wisdom?” It seems that the more aware we are of our mortality, the wiser we tend to become! I have often said, especially in regards to raising my children, that I wish I had had the wisdom of my older years, and the strength of my youth, while I was raising them! I truly believe I would have done a better job! But praise be to God for His merciful compassion! By His grace, my children are wonderful human beings!
As we grow older, suddenly, the things that meant so much to us, are no longer that important! A quiet walk with the one we love, is much more important than passing the vacuum cleaner over the rug; or dusting, and shining, the furniture, until you can see your face in them! Setting aside an evening each week, just to be with the family, becomes of greater importance than being present at every meeting.
Oh, that we might learn to live life wisely, by knowing how to determine the things that are of real importance as we measure them in terms of eternity. After all, by God’s grace, we will be living in eternity some day, won’t we?
NOTE: I take this opportunity to wish my darling son, Dr. Ricardo Duncan, a very Happy Birthday, from his dad, myself, his sisters, and his nephew, Michael Wayne. We love you, and are very proud of you! Infinite blessings upon you, from the Father above!