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The Pilgrim Path (6-8-2022)

The Pilgrim Path---Psalm 90: 12 – 17 

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.

Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.

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!

“…TO NUMBER OUR DAYS”

Time seems unending---until you have a deadline pressing or a loved one dying. Suddenly, time evaporates. Philosophers debate whether we pass through time---or time passes by us? Well, what I can attest to is that the “passage” of time---and the curse of sin, have done a number on both my body and my mind! The situation is not what it was---because accumulated decades have had their effect upon me. I feel the story of Joseph Priestley years ago. He said he was walking in London and saw his reflection in a store window. He was in his 60’s at the time. He said to a friend, “I wanted to run into the back of the store and throw off that costume---but alas---it was not to be! It’s me---till I leave the world.” He was startled by the old man--- he had become. Are you ever sobered by the years you have accumulated? My Mom used to say, “How did I get so old?” Of course---she said it with a smile. Time is a gift from God. Do we “see” it as such?

The blood-bought, blood-washed follower of Jesus Christ---may age, but he is joint heir with the Rock of Ages! He does not have to be “crushed” by the fact many years have passed. What he does need to do---Moses tells us in this Psalm, is be intentional about time and its use. A medical doctor I read about had a patient that had a tough time with his “use” of time. I guess we could say the patient was a Type A Personality: Driven—Relentless--- Hard on himself and others. The doctor simply wrote an address for the patient on a prescription pad. He told the man, “Go to this place---walk around for about 45 minutes or so. Come back to see me in about two days.” Surprisingly---the address was that of a large cemetery. Wow---the man was angry, but the doctor was his friend---so he did what he was asked (even though he considered it a colossal waste of time). A couple of days later he returned to the doctor’s office. They both laughed for a bit. Then the conversation became serious. Then the doctor said to his friend, “Each person’s grave marked a person’s life with a beginning---and an End. That hyphen in between their birthdate---and their death-death, represented THEIR LIFE. Think about life as a precious commodity. We either live it FOR God---or AGAINST God.” By the grace of God---the patient’s life began to dramatically change…

Teach Us--- LORD to Number Our Days:

  1. 90: 12---Make us better at the “Math” of Life: Help us Spirit of God as we “get” into summer to remember that days--- are a GIFT from YOU. Hudson Taylor would often ask the LORD, “Today LORD, do your work through me.”
  2. 90: 13---Mercy is what we need each day: LORD have pity on us in all the “tests” we face today! Help us LORD---to see the “interruptions”---to our plans, as John Newton put it, “as your purpose and labor for us.”
  3. 90: 14---Mornings--- “remind” us that we need refreshing! LORD ---we are knit to YOU in the Covenant Love of Jesus---help us have this-- in our mind today! Remind US---we belong to YOU…
  4. 90: 15---Many days are rigorous---BUT the LORD’S goodness and truth are “equal” to the day---which is why the Psalmist says in Psalm 119: 71, “It was good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.” The LORD knows “how” to make us glad about His Word---and His ways!
  5. 90: 16---Manifestations of aid & strength---Jehovah-Jesus has His ways--- One of lifting His people “up” through the course of their days ! Thanks be to God!
  6. 90: 17---Make your Beauty LORD---be upon Us---demonstrate it in the very midst of our work---that YOU are the ONLY One---Who could have helped us achieve what is worthwhile---For Your Glory and the Good of Souls! And remind us constantly that what we “do” for King Jesus---lasts---Even a cup of cold water given in His Name. Amen.

From John Flavel: No creature comes into the world under more natural weakness than man. All our excellencies are borrowed excellencies (I Cor. 4: 7). What intolerable pride and vanity would it be for a man that wears the rich and costly robe of Christ’s righteousness, to parade proudly up and down in the world as if he himself had made it. There is not one thread of his own spinning, but all was made by free grace, O man, all your excellencies are borrowed from Christ!

From Alistair Begg: It’s all about God. May He forgive us for every time we start to think it’s actually all about us.

From John Owen: See in the meantime that your faith brings forth obedience, and God in due time will cause it to bring forth peace.

HYMN:

O joyful be the passing day

With thoughts as pure as morning’s ray,

With faith like noontide shinning bright,

Our souls unshadowed by the night.

Dawn’s glory gilds the earth and skies,

Let him, our perfect Morn, arise,

The Word in God the Father one,

The Father imaged in the Son.

Ambrose of Milan, 340 – 397

Trans. complied by Louis F. Benson, 1910; alt. 1990, mod.

Grace and Peace in Jesus, the Only Redeemer of broken and wretched souls, Pastor Jason

*** This will “finish” my posting for a while. I must get ready for the PCA General Assembly---and there’s vacation time “built” around this Church event. It could take me toward the end of July to “start-up” again (D. V.) Thank You for your kind thoughts and expressions of encouragement. The Living Christ grant each of You His great guidance and care!