Exhortation Station

Last night, a tornado swept through Tennessee, majorly affecting areas such as Nashville, Putnam County, and Wilson County.  As of 10:30 a.m. today (3/3/2020), 21 people have been found dead as a result.  Sixteen of these deaths were in Putnam County, where the college I attend in Cookeville is located.  Many others were injured.  Thankfully I’m fine, and the Tennessee Tech campus was not directly hit.  There is a lot of trash on the ground, however, and nearby areas were hit quite severely.  May our prayers go out for those who have lost homes, property, and loved ones.

This event is a stark reminder to me of just how fleeting life is on this earth.  We hear often of tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, floods, etc. affecting vast areas in various places around the world, but rarely do events like this hit so close to home.  It’s good for us to be sobered up by occurrences like this. 

Many of you may be familiar with the verse that says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”  These words are found in Psalm 90:12.  Interestingly, the heading at the beginning of this psalm indicates that Psalm 90 was a prayer of Moses.  A few verses before verse 12, we read the following:

Psalm 90:8-10 — “You have placed our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence. ⁹ For all our days have declined in Your fury; we have finished our years like a sigh. ¹⁰ 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.”

Here, Moses speaks of our exposed sins, of Yah’s wrath, and of the brevity of life on this earth.  We then read Moses’ petition in verse 12 — that Yahweh would “teach us to number our days.”  If any man could be expected to have some experience and wisdom, Moses certainly could.  Not only did Moses live to be 120 years old (Deuteronomy 34:7).  Deuteronomy 34:10 tells us that Yahweh knew Moses “face to face” while on the earth.

Let us heed these piercing words of wisdom from a man whom Yahweh used powerfully as an instrument for His purposes.  Let’s be sobered by stories of events such as what happened in Tennessee last night.  We truly don’t know if we’ll be given another tomorrow — each day is an undeserved gift from Yahweh.  May we be moved to faithfully and earnestly number our days, that we may present to our Father in Heaven a heart of wisdom.

(Bible passages NASB; emphasis added.)