Monday, April 17, 2017

TEACH US TO SERIOUSLY MEDITATE ON THE SHORTNESS OF THIS LIFE

Proclamation:
“All our days pass away under Your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.  Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away…Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:9-12 (NIV)

Explanation:
The words of this psalm were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by Moses.  This psalm is thought to be his prayer to The Lord God after the people of Israel had sinned in the wilderness.  Ten of the twelve spies that he sent to check out the promised land of Canaan returned with an evil report, and the people murmured and rebelled against Moses and that provoked The Lord God.  Before the flood, men lived hundreds of years, some to eight or nine hundred years.  After the flood men generally lived no more than 120 years. (Genesis 6:3)  After the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, men generally lived to seventy or eighty.  The prayer of Moses was that God would allow man to seriously consider the brief time to be spent on earth as compared to eternity, and then hopefully develop an appreciation for following The Lord and eternal salvation.

Application:
To the very young, seventy years seems like a very long time, but to the rest of us that is not so.  We can shorten or lengthen our life span by our behavior. (Exodus 20:12)  However, regardless of the number of years we live on earth, when we die, our soul will leave our body and spend eternity somewhere. (2 Corinthians 5:6-9)  It is because of our soul that we are alive. (Genesis 2:7)  From the dust of the earth were our bodies formed and when our soul leaves our bodies and returns to The Lord, our physical body will return to dust. (Ecclesiastes 12:7)  Our earthly life is brief but our souls are eternal.  In the end we will hear The Lord God say “Well done good and faithful servant …” and spend eternity with our Lord, (Matthew 25:21) or we will find that our name is not written in Book of Life and spend eternity in the lake of fire, tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10-15)  Pray for a heart of wisdom, for fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 9:10)


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