Oh God, Our Hope (Week 6) - Monday Morning Devotions
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Have you ever counted the days until an important event?
Maybe you counted down the days to your wedding. Or your wife was expecting a child, and you attempted to pinpoint the date that she was due. Each year, many of us count down the days to our birthday or to the birth of Jesus Christ, Christmas Day, with the hope and expectations of gifts!
And yet, we often take the other days, the un-birthdays for granted. They come and they go, and we are led to believe life in this world will go on forever. Or that a father or mother, a grandfather or grandmother, a spouse, or a child will always be with us. Or even worse, we think we can do whatever we want, and then at the last minute, like the thief or more likely the terrorist who died next to Jesus, we can ask for pardon and be forgiven. A word to the wise - don't count on that!
Our Scripture for today comes to us from a prayer of Moses, Psalm 90, verses nine, ten, and twelve. They read:
For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
I pray you get a heart of wisdom - wisdom to fear, love, and trust in God above all things - if you have not received one already from God's Spirit. We now turn to verse five of Isaac Watts hymn entitled "O God our help in Ages Past:”
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Soon bears us all away;
We fly forgotten as a dream
Dies at the op'ning day.
Life is swiftly passing by. This is Good News for those who have the hope of life everlasting through a heart of wisdom - knowing full well the grace of God through faith in Jesus our Lord and Savior.
Please pray with me: Almighty God, through the resurrection of Your Son, You have secured peace for our troubled consciences. Grant us this peace evermore, so that trusting in the merit of Your Son, we may come at last to the perfect peace in heaven; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.