November 12, 2020
Dear friends,
Psalm 90 includes a profound petition: “Teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
Wisdom is not something reserved for big-brained, highfalutin types. It is not like skills in art or music, where either you have a knack for it or you don’t. It’s not something that you have to pay tuition for. It’s not something that has nothing to do with your daily life.
In fact, wisdom has everything to do with your daily life. It has everything to do with waking up in the morning and drinking a cup of coffee and going to work and doing your chores and talking to your family and friends and thinking about how your day went and deciding what you’ll do tomorrow and next week and next year.
It has everything to do with all of that because it includes knowing the difference between good and evil. It includes knowing the difference between what matters and what doesn’t matter. It includes knowing the difference between things that will last and things that could be gone anytime.
A fool just skates across the surface of life. A fool is like a squirrel, distracted by every shiny object that comes into view.
A wise person knows where he’s come from and where he’s going and for what reason.
This is why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is why learning to number our days, knowing that their extent is determined by God and that their course matters eternally – that is how we gain a heart of wisdom.
You are wise if you understand that you did not bring yourself into this world. You are wise if you understand that you were born dead, with a sin-stained heart full of hatred towards God. You are wise if you understand that you have been chosen by God to live again, to live in goodness by faith, trusting God’s Word. You are wise if you understand that there is coming a judgment and that your only hope is the cross of Jesus. You’re wise if you understand that the single most important thing is whether or not Christ died for you.
You are wise because you know and believe that he did.
That wisdom is better than jewels, more precious than gold that perishes, more valuable than all the riches of the world.
Pray for an increase of wisdom. Learn to number your days and to fear God from the Scriptures, and so gain in wisdom. Humble yourselves and confess your sins. Repent and believe. Love the wisdom that comes from on high.
God bless and keep you,
Pr. Buchs