Today (Part 2)
Scriptures: Psalm 39:4, 5; 90:9-12; 139:16, 23, 24; 73:3, 5, 7, 13-14, 17, 21-24; Matthew 6:25-34
Psalm 73:3, 5, 7, 13-14, 17, 21-24
Introduction:
Two weeks ago I shared with you part one of this series I’ve titled “Today”. In pat one of this message I walked you through a timeline that demonstrated how the lifespan of man was shortened because of the wickedness that man chose to walk in. It got so bad that God wiped out everything and started over with Noah. (By the way, I saw the movie “Noah” and I do not recommend you seeing it if you’re looking for an accurate portrayal of what took place. That movie is more on the line of a make believe story that could lead some astray if they believed it to be factual. Just an FYI.) Even after God started over with Noah, by the time Abraham lived (towards the end of Noah’s life) man had once again strayed from God. Why is this important to understand? Abraham was in his fifties when Noah died so I believe that they definitely knew each other. Noah’s son, Shem, was still alive when Abraham died at the age of 175 so they all knew what had happened with the flood and why it happened and yet man still strayed away from God. Abraham was a righteous man and believed in God and God chose him to establish His covenant with him. Have you ever wondered why God did not choose Noah or even one of his sons? There was a reason that God chose Abraham. It seemed impossible for man (as a whole) to consistently dedicate himself to God and live according to God’s standard but Abraham did so. We see man’s rebellion over and over again throughout the Old and New Testaments. So what does all of this have to do with our today?
In part one of this message I shared with you that today gives us an opportunity to look back on yesterday and see things more clearly than when we were experiencing the situations of yesterday. I also told you that today allows us to plan for tomorrow even though we do not know what tomorrow will hold. The main point that I attempted to make in part one was the fact that we spend so much time looking back (at our past) and planning for our tomorrows that we do not focus on doing what needs to be done today. Today represents another opportunity to fulfill things that we are “supposed” to be doing. We may chase and achieve our dreams, but those dreams may not always be in line with what God is trying to get us to do. This morning I want to close this message by sharing with you some thoughts around how we look at our “todays” currently and how we can choose to live them differently from this day forward. If you recall from part one, after God reduced the number of years man would live He wiped the earth clean and started over with Noah and his family. When Noah and his family came off the ark, they were God focused. But once again, the farther man got away from the flood (the generations following Noah) the easier it became to forget about the flood and live according to the desires in each man’s heart. I want to start this morning with a prayer of Moses. Moses lived some 500 years after Abraham and we see through the lives of the Children of Israel that they were still easily swayed to rebel against God. Turn with me to Psalms 90.
I. Moses Prayer
When you read the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, you will find the story Moses and how God used him to bring the Children of Israel out of Egypt. One of the things you will find that was consistent with the Children of Israel was how easily they rebelled against God or how quickly they forgot how God had delivered them out of Egypt. This was the reason they stayed in the wilderness for 40 years, as God allowed them to wander until all of the adults who had rebelled against Him died. What I want to read to you is something that Moses said in one of his prayers. Psalms 90:9-12 says "For all our days have declined in Your fury; We have finished our years like a sigh. As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years. Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away. Who understands the power of Your anger and Your fury, according to the fear that is due You? So teach us to number our days that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." When Moses said this prayer man's days had reduced from 120 years to 70 years (80 years in some cases). Between Noah and Moses, God had taken another 50 years off the life span of man. Are you seeing a trend here? We know that some people today live to be older than 80 years, but some of that is due to our medical advances. Moses said that man's days had declined due to God's fury. In other words man's days were reduced for a reason. Do you know that in 1900 the average life span for a man in the United States was 46 years? Today the average lifespan is in the middle 70s with our advances in medicine. But with the addition of the years have man gotten wiser? My point is that in the beginning man lived for hundreds of years. The longer they lived the farther away they drifted from God. When God wiped out everything in the flood and started over with Noah and his family, the life span of man following Noah would be on average 120 years. By the time Moses brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt, it was 70 years. Before modern day science, the lifespan of man continued to decrease.
In verse twelve Moses asks God the following: “So teach us to number our days that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” What Moses was asking for was for God to help us understand that our days are few so that through that understanding we would choose to use our time here on earth wisely – serving Him. Think of the average child today. The first ten years of their lives are spent playing and having fun (even though they have to go to school.) The next ten years of their lives are spent playing, having fun and managing their hormonal changes and impulses. If this is accurate, the first twenty years of their life is spent doing what they want to do and enjoying themselves. For some people this continues into their thirties, forties and fifties. If the average child lived to be eighty years old, then twenty-five percent of their lives was spent having fun and doing what they wanted. Now imagine if you will that the average life span was 500 years if all went well. Based on my first example, would you spend the first 125 years of your life focused on God and doing His will or having fun and enjoying yourself? Moses’ request of God was to help the people understand that they have a limited amount of time here on this earth and hopefully by understanding this they would make wise decisions as it related to their walk with God. Let’s look at a request that David made in one of his psalms. Turn to Psalm 39:4-5.
II. David’s Request
In Psalm 39, David asks God to help him accept the brevity of his life (Vss. 1-6) and to cease chastening him in view of its shortness (Vss. 7-13). Let’s read Psalm 39:4, 5. It reads: "Lord, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days. Let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight. Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah." Again David is asking for wisdom to know his days so that he would walk upright before God. David understood that our lives are like a mere breath compared to eternity. We look at our lives and all of the problems we face from day to day and we wonder will the problems ever end. But comparative to the days before Noah, our lives are truly short. We have much less time to get it right and no time to waste. If you knew that every month of your adult life (12 times per year) you could help one person come into the kingdom of God and live an eternity with Him what would you do? If you knew for a certainty that you would live for only 70 years, would you spend your time differently? If you knew that you could live longer by walking with God, would you change your walk? This is what Moses and David were trying to get to, an understanding that life on earth is short so it should be spent trying to live for God and accomplishing His goals. God has a plan for our life and He is waiting on us to recognize that as every day passes we lose another day that we will never get back. How would we live if we lived everyday with our minds focused on Jesus? I have two additional Scriptures I want to leave with you before I close this message. Turn with me Psalm 139.
III. Our Anxious “Today Moments”
David stated the following in Psalm 139:16. 23-24: “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts. And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” David understood that before he was even born that God knew him. He understood that God was aware and knew him at the point of his conception and that there were days that had been ordained for him. He asked God to search him and know his heart and his anxious thoughts. Consider what he was asking God. He wanted God to know his anxious thoughts so that at those moments God could intervene. We are all aware of what worrying can do to us physically so when David made this request of God and then ended the request with “and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way” he was requesting help. He wanted God to remove anything within him that was hurtful to him. If you have not picked up on it yet, worrying is hurtful for us. Turn to Matthew chapter six.
Matthew chapter six contains part of the teaching that Jesus gave during His sermon on the mount. He taught on several topics in chapter five through seven, but I want to read what He said about our anxiety. Let’s begin at chapter twenty-five of Matthew chapter six. “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
In this powerful teaching Jesus told us that our worrying does nothing for our situation but it does reflects our level of faith (vs. 30). Jesus states that our lives are much more than what we worry about on a day to day basis and compares us to the birds of the air that God takes care of. He stresses that we are much more important to God than the birds of the air and if God takes care of them He will surely take care of us. In verse twenty-seven Jesus asks the question can our worrying add one additional hour to our lives and we all know that it cannot. What Jesus made clear in verse thirty-three was that we should seek God’s kingdom first and then everything else that we need would be added to us. Based on this principle Jesus says that we should not worry about tomorrow for it will take care of itself as each day (today) has enough trouble of its own. When I read this (and have others to read it) I think about how I worry about tomorrow. When I am worrying about tomorrow, I am not focused on what I can do today because my mind is wrapped up in tomorrow. Is this how God wants us to live? No, I do not think so.
Conclusion
A few weeks ago I was in a situation where my mind was taking me to a place where I was about to make a wrong decision about some things that were happening in my life. I was so frustrated that I was even helping someone else consider making the wrong decision for their life. All I could see were the things that were going wrong even though I am doing my best to live righteously before God. I was dealing with people who were prospering even though they were hurting others without even caring. I witnessed things that were wrong and yet I was helpless to do anything about it. Everything was coming at once and my mind began to stress and worry about the “tomorrows.” I began to think about the “what ifs” and what should my next step be. This went on for a couple of weeks as I stress and thought and planned for my future. At one point God stopped me in my tracks and asked me to look back. He showed me my past and what He had delivered me from. He gave me a glimpse of my future and what He would be doing in my life if I remained steadfast and trusting in Him. Then He pointed out why my mind was where it was at. Let me read something to you from Psalm 73 that applied directly to my situation.
For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked…They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like mankind…Their eye bulges from fatness; the imaginations of their heart run riot…Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence; for I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning…Until I came into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end…When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. With your counsel You will guide me, and afterwards receive me to glory.” (Psalm 73:3, 5, 7, 13-14, 17, 21-24)
I lost some “todays” because during this time I was so focused on what was being done wrong to me that I could not focus on my blessings or what I was supposed to be doing for God. When I read these verses, I had to think about my first responses to situations that are not within my control. When I read these verses from Psalm 73 I was thinking that God had exposed what I was thinking within. Truly I was envious of those who were doing wrong and still prospering (in my opinion anyway.) How easy I could live if I was not trying to do God’s will. What things I could accomplish for myself if I chose to live according to the rules of the world – get mine at all cost and let others get theirs! God reminded me that it is not what we do on earth for ourselves that will matter in the end, but what we do for Him. When I realized how my thinking had shifted in that situation, I was just as the writer had said in verse twenty-two. I was senseless and ignorant because I was not thinking as I should as it relates to my relationship with God and what He has going on in my life. I was stressing over “worldly” things even though I confessed to believe that God has it all in His hands. I confessed that but did I truly believe and demonstrate it in my actions. In verses twenty-three and twenty-four, I came to find comfort that I know that God is with me and has taken my hand into His. I know that if I will listen to His counsel, even in my worst situations, He will guide me through.
So I ask you this morning, what are you doing with your “today”? What are you focusing on? Yes I know we have to work to provide for ourselves and our families, but what are we really focusing on? Is your focus to live one day at a time or to walk with God and trust Him to guide you through it all? I am not being “religious” right now I am seriously asking you what you’re focusing on. There is a song that says “only what you do for Christ will last.” Our service to Him is our ultimate retirement plan but we still have to exist here today. How we exist here today is directly linked to how we walk with Him and allow Him to operate in our lives. What are you focusing on? Is your career #1 in your life? Is your family #1 in your life? Is God #1 in your life? Please understand that we can lose everything and God will still be there. If He is not first, then we are missing the boat.
Today I choose to be different. Today I choose to seek God first and everything else after Him. Today I choose to not stress over my job (or lack thereof) and believe God to direct my steps to what I should be doing and where I should be doing it. Today I choose to live for Him in my actions and not just my words. I choose to pray for those who do not understand what it means to have a relationship with God and that they will come to that knowledge. Today I choose to not allow my emotions, anger, frustrations and disappointments to cloud my judgment as to what is really important in my life. Today I choose to walk in the understanding that my life is not defined by the job I have, the possessions I own or the Church I pastor. Today I choose to define my life by what I get done today and tomorrow for God. Today I choose to not look backwards at my past and remain in bondage, but to learn from the mistakes so as not to repeat them and live each day for God. Today I choose to love God with all my heart and love my brother as myself. This is the commitment that I am giving to God this morning and each of you hearing this and/or reading it are my witnesses.
Now, what are you choosing to do with your “today”?
“The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
