So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
— Psalm 90:12
Psalm 90 was written by Moses. I don't know that he wrote any others, but I find it, personally, to be one of the most beautiful of Psalms. I return to it often because the lesson it teaches is so important: the years of our life "are soon gone, and we fly away." (verse 10)
You have, right now, in your possession, the most valuable commodity on earth — and that commodity is time! Every person on earth, at this very same moment, is spending their allotment of time either wisely or unwisely. Every person who is sleeping, every person who is working, every person who is laying in a hospital bed suffering, or every person who is simply watching television are all quite literally "spending" their time.
The elderly businessman who may be richer than most of the kings of earth, sees his impending death and realizes that all his wealth will not buy him a single second more than his apportionment of time. He also realizes that he cannot take any of his wealth with him. In that regard, he enters eternity on equal standing with the poorest soul that has ever lived, being no more or no less deserving of consideration.
There is an amazing statement at the beginning of Deuteronomy. Maybe you never caught it, but it says in Deuteronomy 1:2-3, "It is eleven days journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. And in the fortieth year..."! Isn't that incredible? An eleven day journey took forty years! Any cursory reading of the last four books of Moses reveals what the problem was — unbelief!
Let me ask you, Do you really — I mean really! — want Jesus to transform you into that person you know He wants you to be? 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "And we all , with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."
The veil of which this verse is speaking is those things that Jesus has put his finger on and said, "You must lay this aside so that I can create My likeness in you." Please. Take it from me. There was something in my life on which God put His finger forty years ago that I refused to give to Him. I refused to remove the veil. And for all that time, He could do little with me. Quite literally, forty years! I could have been enjoying the land of milk and honey eleven days into my journey, if I had simply removed the veil. But I refused. "They are soon gone, and we fly away."
Don't waste a moment. Whatever it is that He has put His finger upon in your life — even if it seems good — is not as good as what He desires to give you. We are talking about the God of ALL creation! Can he not give you the richest gifts you can imagine to enjoy for all time? And though that may not seem possible as your consider it, step out in faith and believe that He will replace whatever it is with something that will produce pure joy in your life. Because that is what He really desires for your life.
• Now these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did. — 1 Corinthians 10:6
• But the Lord answered her, 'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.' — Luke 10:41,42
• Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. — Job 1:21
• Then one day I went into God's sanctuary to meditate, and thought about the future of these evil men. What a slippery path they are on — suddenly God will send them sliding over the edge of the cliff and down to their destruction: an instant end to all their happiness, an eternity of terror. Their present life is only a dream! They will awaken to the truth as one awakens from a dream of things that never really were. — Psalm 73:18-20, Living Bible
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