July 3 ▪ Day 184

Scripture Readings

Psalms 90:12
Numbers 5–6
Matthew 3
Habakkuk 3

Verse Focus (Psalms 90:12)

Teach us to number our days,
     that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Meditation

Psalms 90:12 has been one of my favorite verses for a very long time. “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Time management. Oh, yes!

Yesterday, I was asked what kind of superhero I had wanted to be when I was a child. I wasn’t into comic books much, and there weren’t many movies or television shows that featured superheroes when I was young. So there wasn’t a character that I wanted to be. But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t wished for a super-power. Being invisible would be kind of cool. 🙂

But, actually, the super-power that I have always wanted is the ability to stop time. Or freeze time. Time would stop for everyone else, but I could go ahead and do whatever it was that I wanted to do. And then once my tasks were complete, I would just step back into time again and no one would know that I had gone elsewhere, done other things, and come back again.

Obviously, the reason I wanted to stop time was because I was so very, very bad at managing my time. I was a procrastinator. And still am, to some degree. A procrastinator and a perfectionist — the two often go hand in hand. So, learning how to use time well — that truly takes wisdom. And so this verse has been my prayer, and continues to be my prayer.

Moses asks God to teach us how to number our days. The New Living Translation (NLT) — one of the paraphrase translations — interprets this verse as, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.” This is what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 5:16 when he tells us to make the most of every opportunity “because the days are evil.” But understanding that life is short and taking that into consideration is an interpretation of this verse. Most translations simply speak of numbering or counting our days.

It’s interesting that Moses speaks of “days” and not weeks, months, or years. It’s about being present in the moment, every moment. It’s the days that matter. Each individual day. If you can handle a day properly, you can handle life well.

We have that mostly backward, I think. We worry about having a life lived well, and then waste our days thinking that they don’t matter. On the contrary — one of the things I’ve been learning with this devotional project is that each day is what matters. Each day is its own challenge. But I only have to worry about today. Tomorrow there’ll be a new challenge. But I need to focus only on the day. And that’s how I’ve made it through six months so far — all praises to God!

Father God, help us to number our days so that we will be wise and bring you glory in all that we do. Help us to make the most of every opportunity. Let us not waste time or fritter away our hours, but use our time wisely. Let us work when called to do so, and rest when the time is right. Give us your wisdom and enable us to count our days by your mercy and grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Numbers 5 speaks of public health, restitution for wrongdoing, and the problem of jealousy. Those with skin diseases, those with discharges, and those who have become defiled because of a dead body are all sent to live outside of the camp. Verse 3 says, “Send away both male or female; send them outside the camp, so that they will not defile their camps where I dwell among them.” This is presented as a matter of the LORD’s glory and His presence among the Israelites — and, so it is. But it is also a way to keep contagious diseases in check. It’s a way to preserve public health.

Those who have wronged another person are guilty before the LORD. They must make restitution to the person wronged, adding one fifth to the value of the compensation. If compensation cannot be paid either to the wronged individual or to that person’s relative, then the compensation goes to the LORD.

The remainder of chapter 5 details how to handle the jealous suspicions of a husband with regard to his wife. If he suspects that she may have committed adultery, he may bring her before the priests. There is an offering, and a ritual. The woman is given water to drink that contains dust from the Tabernacle floor and ink from a scroll of the curses to be enacted should she be guilty. The Scripture tells us that if the woman is guilty, she will endure bitter pain — her womb will swell, and she will miscarry. But if she is not guilty, there will be no effects at all from the water. She will be cleared of guilt, and she will be able to bear children. Verse 31 concludes, “The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.”

I have mixed feelings about this test for adultery. On the one hand, I’m pleased that there is a way for the woman to be vindicated against false jealousy. But I’m also a bit angry that the man is not censured for his jealousy — especially when it turns out that he’s been making it all up. I suppose the ritual can bring peace to a marriage. And I do believe that God is able to judge between right and wrong, and that He can use this to settle a marital dispute. Basically, I just feel disappointed that jealousy seems to be considered normal. Even if it was a man’s world back then, I want the Scripture to be better than that.

Numbers 6 speaks about taking a Nazirite Vow; it also gives the priestly blessing for the Israelites. I was surprised to see, in verse 2, that the Nazirite Vow is open to “either a man or a woman.” Because the passage speaks of the Nazirite in the singular, and the pronoun “he” is always used, I hadn’t realized that women could also make this special vow.

While under the Nazirite Vow, the individual can drink no wine, use no vinegar, and eat no grapes — indeed, they are not to eat or drink anything that comes from the grapevine. While the individual is separated as Nazirite, he or she “shall be holy (v. 5).” Like the high priest, they must not defile themselves even if a very close relative dies.

For those who come accidentally in contact with a dead body (because someone died suddenly in their presence), their separation to the LORD has become defiled. Verse 11 tells us that the individual “sinned by reason of the dead body.” Thus the entire period of their separation becomes void. Once they are cleansed and bring the appropriate offerings, the Nazirite Vow restarts from the very beginning.

It’s a curious understanding of sin — not how we typically understand sin and guilt. The Nazirite had done nothing wrong, but because of what God allows — death — their separation to the LORD has become defiled and they must start all over again. To think of sin as something that can be a consequence of your environment, and not the direct result of your own actions is a bit mind-boggling.

The priestly blessing at the end of the chapter is just lovely. Favorite verses. Verses to treasure:

²⁴The LORD bless you and keep you;
²⁵the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
²⁶the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

In Matthew 3, we read of the ministry of John the Baptist. His purpose was to prepare the way for the LORD — for Jesus. Verse 2 records John’s message. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Thus we learn that to know God, we must first turn around. We must repent. We must recognize the sin in our lives. We must turn away from the sin and toward God. And we must show our repentance by our actions.

The need for repentance is about us, rather than God. But indirectly it tells us that God is holy. That He hates sin and wickedness. And that He waits for us to respond to Him.

In verse 9, John tells the Pharisees and the Sadducees, “God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.” Of course, He is God. He created the universe; He can do what He chooses to do. But without this statement, it might not have occurred to me that God might choose to subvert the natural order of things. The descendants of Abraham grew and multiplied more or less naturally. Isaac was supernatural. And Isaac also needed divine intervention to have children. But after that it was more or less just natural reproduction — based on the way God created the world and the rules He set up. But John says that God could take inorganic material and turn it into a child of Abraham. And so He can. The only thing limiting Him is Himself.

I guess what we learn from this is two things. One, God did set up a plan, and a process, and a whole system of interconnected rules when He made the earth. He gives us sunlight, and oxygen, and cell division, and gave plants, animals, and people a way to eat, grow, and reproduce. It seems — from our point of view — like He made a wonderfully complex clock. He wound us up and started us ticking… and now we just keep going on, without any need to have divine intervention. So it seems. (I think other Scriptures make it clear that God is the one who gives each one of us breath; Jesus is the one who sustains us. And so even though we think that there’s no need or place for God in how things work on earth, we are wrong about that. After all, Jesus holds atoms together.)

At any rate, the second thing we learn is that even though we have natural systems, God always reserves the right to change things. To make children of Abraham out of stones, should He choose.

John tells us that Jesus will be “mightier” than he is. In verse 11, he says, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” John also speaks of Jesus’ “winnowing fork (v. 12).” And it is clear from this that God is the Judge. He will separate good from bad; useful from useless.

Lastly, we have Jesus’ baptism, and God the Father’s audible comment in verse 17, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” God continues to communicate; He continues to create witnesses to His work through Jesus Christ. Yesterday, we saw that God communicates through the heavens, through Scripture, and through dreams. Today, He communicates using language: words that we hear with our ears, words that others can hear too. The clarity is striking. This is not the means of communication He typically chooses (as the gospel shows), but He can speak out loud to us and He does do so on occasion.

Habakkuk chapter 3 is more like a psalm than anything else. The first verse tells us that this is a prayer. Habakkuk recognizes that God does mighty and awesome things. But it is the poignancy of the last phrase in verse 2 that always strikes me. Habbakuk prays, “In wrath remember mercy.”

Habakkuk speaks of how God judges the world. Verse 5 says, “Before him went pestilence, and plague followed at his heels.” The natural world responds to God’s anger and might. The sun and moon stand still; the mountains tremble. God threshes the nations, destroying the wicked ones. Habakkuk experiences terror at the judgment, but he resolves in verse 16, “Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.”

Indeed, the close of this prayer is one of the greatest statements of faith in the Bible. Habakkuk prays in verses 17 and 18:

¹⁷Though the fig tree does not bud
     and there are no grapes on the vines,
     though the olive crop fails
     and the fields produce no food,
     though there are no sheep in the pen
     and no cattle in the stalls,
¹⁸yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
     I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Habakkuk concludes with verse 19, “The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.” How Habakkuk was able to move from the questions and doubt he had at the beginning of this book to the steadfast faith he now possesses is a bit of a mystery to us. God replied to Habakkuk’s laments, but His answers didn’t directly address Habakkuk’s concerns. Rather, they spoke of God acting in ways that people would find hard to understand. And yet, through this personal interaction with God, Habakkuk gained enough understanding of God’s holiness and justice to trust Him no matter what the circumstances will turn out to be. Truly, God is Habakkuk’s strength. The LORD gives the prophet a faith that is powerful, unshakable, and certain.

Father God, thank you for Habakkuk’s psalm. Thank you for his inspiring faith. We also want to be able to rejoice even when calamity strikes. May we come to know you better so that we too may have the certainty of your faithfulness towards us. Father God, keep our hearts soft and responsive to you. Help us to repent when we need to. May we walk in a manner pleasing to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.