Wisdom Wednesday: The Heart of Wisdom
Submitted by Debbie’s Dad
So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12 NASB 95).
The 90th Psalm records a prayer of Moses that distinguishes the eternal nature of God and the transitory nature of humans.
In the first six verses of the prayer, Moses praises the Lord God, Who “gave birth to the Earth” and has provided a “dwelling place” for His people through the generations. The eternal Lord is “from everlasting to everlasting,” and from His perspective, 1000 years is but a brief time (Like yesterday, or a 4-hour watch period at night. Mortal man, though, is like grass that sprouts up in the morning and withers away at night (verse 6).
This expression of our temporal nature being like the grass is captured in two other places in Scripture:
- “As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.” (Ps 103:15–16..)
- “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” (1 Pe 1:24–25.)
Indeed, even we can look back through history and read about leaders who blossomed on the scene and exhibited great glory and power, then withered and ended up as a note in a history book. The leaders of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Rome come to mind, but the business leaders of large corporations now fallen can also be considered. They flourished, articles were written about them, and then they withered and are gone.
In verses 7-12, Moses explains that man’s life is transitory because of God’s wrath against sin—we are “brought to an end by your anger.” Because we live in a fallen world, our physical life is short and “ends like a sigh” (v. 9), and our life is years, “are but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.” (v.10).
In light of this factual observation, Moses asks, “Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?” (v. 11) Moses knows that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom – and in this case, reverence for God’s power by recognizing the brevity of our lives.
And now Moses presents his conclusion in verse 12–”.. teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” Each day should be accounted for, distinguished, and reckoned as important. In the following verses, he shows how:
- We yearn for His return and seek His mercy (v. 13.)
- We yearn for faster his grace and love, rejoicing for the days God has given to us (v. 14.)
- We even are grateful in our pain and suffering (v. 15.)
- Finally, we seek to see God’s work in our lives and look for how God’s power is revealed (v.16.)
The prayer closes with a request that God will. “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! (v. 17)
Paul encouraged the believers at Ephesus that a wise walk is careful to account for the brief time we have in life: “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. (Eph 5:15-16).
Here is the heart of wisdom that Moses prays for: To recognize the brevity of our life, and so to seek the Lord while accounting for each of our days -being grateful while rejoicing in God’s work.
*A quick note from Debbie. There will be no faithful Friday this week as I attend a virtual writers’ conference from She Writes For Him. Please pray for endurance and perseverance because I will be in front of a computer during those three days. I miss personal contact, but technology allows me to attend. Pray for my voice bar technology not to stall out during these times so I can connect and get my questions answered.