“Like sands through the hour glass, so are the days of our lives.” Those words opened the soap opera my Grammy watched a long time ago. Sometimes when I was sick and couldn’t go to school I would stay with her. We would watch game shows and then her soaps while she fed me. Grammy wasn’t a big believer in the whole “starve a fever” thing. Unless you had a major stomach ailment she figured every illness could be helped with food! I miss her….
That opening line came to my mind as I read Psalm 90. Moses is the writer here and he starts with the eternal nature of God and goes quickly into the frailty and hopelessness of man. In verse 12 he asks God to, “teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”  I’ve been pondering what Moses meant by numbering our days and what does a heart of wisdom look like?  I just celebrated my birthday, so it’s fresh in my mind that we number our years. But Moses, having just talked for the last 9 verses about the sad state of man, is asking God to keep him focused on the shortness of his time here so that he will be gain a wise heart. What does a wise heart look like? The answer is found in the following verses. 
1.       We will look forward to eternity (v. 13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!),

2.       We will be drawn into a more intimate relationship with God (v. 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.),

3.        We will long to have the hard times swallowed up in the joy of being with Him (v. 15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil ).

4.       We will desire to see Him come through in a mighty way (v. 16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
   and your glorious power to their children),

5.       We will want our time here to be fruitful (v. 17 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!).

So this week I’ve been asking God to help me to number my days. I don’t know how long I will be on this earth or how long God will use me in any one particular place or way. But I do know that I want to fruitful. I want to be focused on eternity and a longing to see Him work in and through me.

I hate to sound cliché, but today really is the first day of the rest of your life. We can’t get back any time that we have wasted. But we can strive to make sure that we “number our days” and make each one count!

 

Most of us are familiar with word association games. I say grass, you might say green. I say bird, you might say fly. I say cotton, you might say fluffy. If we played a Bible version I could say Samson, you would probably say strong. I say Solomon, you would probably say wise. I say the book of Genesis, you might say beginning. What would you say if I said the book of Revelation? Some things that pop into my mind are: the end, tribulation, worship, and confusing. Did any of you say hope or encouragement? Those words would not have made my list before my study this week.

Revelation was written to the seven churches in Asia Minor. Persecution had begun for them and it was getting ready to get worse. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle John writes to these churches where he had been ministering.

Revelation, first and foremost is the revealing of Jesus Christ. How encouraging to see Christ revealed as:

The risen, glorified Son of God ministering among the churches
The faithful witness
The firstborn from the dead
The ruler over the kings of the earth
The Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End
The One who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty
The First and Last
The Son of Man
The One who was dead, but now is alive forevermore
The Son of God
The One who is holy and true
The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God
The Lion of the tribe of Judah
The Lamb in heaven with authority to open the title deed to the earth
The Lamb on the throne
The Messiah who will reign forever
The Word of God
The majestic King of kings and Lord of lords, returning in glorious splendor to conquer His foes
The Root and the Off-spring of David
The Bright and Morning Star

Each one of these reveals a part of Christ’s character and as we allow these to wash over our weary souls we cannot help but to be encouraged in the sure hope of Him. Also throughout the book of Revelation we see God in sovereign control of every event in human history. It may seem like evil always prevails, and certainly the reading of this book reveals some pretty scary stuff that is going to happen to those who have rejected Christ. However, for those of us who are His, great peace can be found in God’s sovereign power.

When my daughter was little she had understood enough of a sermon about the tribulation to make her curious about what was going to happen someday. I was struggling to give her a ‘six year-old version’ of things to come. She stopped me mid-sentence and said, “Mom, do we win in the end?” That one I could answer! “Yes, we win in the end!”

I hope you took and passed the “pop quiz” in I John that we talked about in last week’s blog. Because if you did, and you know that you know that you will spend eternity in Heaven, Revelation is a very encouraging and hope inspiring book indeed.

WE WIN IN THE END!!

I & II Thessalonians are two of Paul's earliest letters. (Galatians was probably written earlier.) Paul's love for the believers in Thessalonica, his spiritual children in the faith, overflows on each page. A recurring theme in these books is the return of Jesus. 

In seven of the eight chapters of these two books the Lord's return is mentioned. Paul is addressing some confusion that was causing problems. Some believed that the day of the Lord had already come and they feared living in the last days. Others believed that since the end was near they could stop working and just wait it out. Neither of these responses was correct. 

We see Paul, with heartfelt love and concern, in turn correct, encourage, exhort, and praise his "brothers and sisters, loved by God." And all of his correction, encouragement and exhortation is rooted in the proper view of the Lord coming back and ushing in eternity. 

In I Thessalonians, He praises them because he has heard about their faithfulness as they wait for Jesus to return. He encourages them to continue to walk worthy of God as they anticipate being in the presence of Christ at His coming. He prays that they will increase and abound in love, so that their hearts will be blameless in holiness before God at the coming of Jesus. He exhorts them to keep pursuing purity, keep increasing in love, keep leading the kind of life that displays God to the outside world because the Lord is coming back. And finally, in chapter five, he comforts them by telling them that the Day of the Lord will not come until certain things have happened so they should keep on living a Godly life. 

II Thessalonians continues this theme as Paul encourages and exhorts their walk of faith in light of eternity in chapter one. In chapter two he tells them to stand fast in the teachings they have received because Jesus IS coming back. 

It's so vitally important that we remember that all of this applies to us too! I don't know when Jesus is coming back, but I know that He IS! Am I being faithful? Am I walking worthy? Am I increasing and abounding in love? Am I pursuing purity, love, and living a life that displays God to the outside world? Am I standing fast in my faith? I cannot do any of that in my own strength. But I can do all things in His strength, and one of the best tools that I have in that quest is the proper view of eternity. He's coming back for me and I will spend eternity with Him in heaven. 

O that will be glory for me, Glory for me, glory for me, When by His grace I shall look on His face, That will be glory, be glory for me.