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Psalm 90:12
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a
heart of wisdom.
A number of years ago, when I was still running
as part of my regular exercise routine, I hopped on a treadmill at a local
fitness center. As I recall, my plan was to run for about 20 minutes at about
an 8 – 9 minute per mile pace.
I was cruising right along, about 10 minutes
into my run, when I sensed something was a little off. It took a few seconds to
realize what was happening – but the treadmill had sped up just a bit and I was
running slightly faster than my normal pace. I glanced down at the control
panel to see if I had accidently touched the speed button – and I noticed that
I was now running not an 8 minute pace – but a 7 ½ minute pace. And I realized
that the treadmill was speeding up all by itself.
Now, the reasonable, intelligent thing to do
would have been to hop off the treadmill – which would not have been hard to do
at a 7 ½ mile pace – and inform someone that the machine had malfunctioned and
to simply get on a different treadmill to finish my workout. But that’s not
what I did. I took it as a kind of personal challenge. I thought to myself,
“OK, Mr. Treadmill, you want it, you got it – let’s see what you got!?” And I
picked up the pace.
Soon the machine was whirring at a 7 minute per
mile clip. Then 6 1/2 ; then 6. Within a couple of minutes the whir turned into
a roar and people around me were interrupting their workouts to watch me
assault the 4 minute mile barrier and I was in trouble.
What could I do? I couldn’t continue that pace
for much longer; and if I tried to jump off the treadmill at that speed I
risked running through the plate glass window in front of me! But I had no
choice, I had to get off that crazy thing – so I grabbed hold of the hand-rail
on the treadmill and leapt off hoping not to seriously injure myself in the
process. I landed rather awkwardly, staggering toward the window – but,
thankfully, I didn’t run through it. But I did learn a lesson!
I had an acceleration problem!
There is a limit to how fast I can run and at
some point – no matter how embarrassing or how awkward – I just had to get off
the treadmill!
The same is true in my life outside the fitness
center!
I think, if we are honest, many of us could say
that we have an “acceleration problem.” That is, between work, commuting to
work, working at home, raising children, carting kids around to all manner of
activities, keeping up with commitments at church and in the community, trying
to manage extended family relationships – not to mention day to day
responsibilities like cleaning the house, shopping, or mowing the grass – we
just keep squeezing more and more into our days and the end result is the same
thing I felt on the accelerating treadmill!
Simply put, something has to go! But what? We
have to get off the treadmill – or at least slow it down – but how?
The writer of the Psalms says it this way:
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a
heart of wisdom.
These ancient words speak to us about our lives
in terms of priorities and wisdom. To “number our days aright” means to be
aware of the preciousness of our lives. We are allotted a finite number of days
on this earth and every single day contains 24 hours, and every hour just 60
minutes. To “number our days aright” means to be intentional about investing
those days, hours and minutes in a manner that honors and serves the God who
gave us life.
Notice that the Psalm says that when we number
our days aright, we “gain a heart of wisdom.” That’s a more poetic way of
saying that when I jumped off that treadmill I learned something that served to
make me just that much wiser than I was when I got on the treadmill!
As we begin this week of “10 Minutes with God”
ask him to help you to “number your days aright.” If you’re on a treadmill that
is speeding up – and most of us are – ask him to help you slow it down or even
to jump off for a bit. Ask him to help you take a good hard look at the
priorities of your life. Are you growing wiser – or just running faster?
Ask God to grow in you a heart of wisdom.
Pastor Brian Coffey
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1 comment:
How relevant this is to modern life. I have asked my daughter about religious education of the grandkids, or about Church on Sunday. How many have heard the response, "this is the only time I can sleep in" or "the kids have too much to do to for Church". And others, ad infinitum. Both parents were brought up Christians but somewhere their priorities have changed. So sad...
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