Teach Us to Value Our Days

Teach Us to Value Our Days
2 Chronicles 32:22-33
January 7-8, 2023

It's the new year. The new year is upon us, and it's that time, of course, when people make their New Year's resolutions. By show of hands, how many people have made at least one New Year's resolution, show of hands, at least 1? A lot of people have made New Year's resolutions.

All right, show of hands, how many people have already broken that New Year's resolution? Oh, that's so funny. I looked up, of course, the most common New Year's resolution, you can probably guess what it is. The most common New Year's resolution is dieting, to eat better. Of course, yes, after all those Christmas desserts and cookies only added to the winter coat we already had, it's time to get healthier.

It's funny, actually, this last year I've been really trying to focus on getting healthy myself, eating better and been going to the gym really regularly. Then, last week I went to the gym and I thought, "Whoa, what are all these people doing here?" It was double the number of people that were there, and I realized, "Oh, it's the New Year. I wonder how many will be here in the month?" You're with me on this.

You know what's better, even better than getting physically healthier? It's spiritual health. My prayer is that this year before us would be a year of revival. That's my prayer. That we as a church would grow deeper in faith, closer to the Lord, that there would be a drawing near, a hungering after the things of God. That's my prayer. I tell you, I look back, on this last year, I have been so excited because God has done so many amazing things in this church. It's been so wonderful to see. There has just been such a hunger after God's word. When we gather for worship, you guys come out to worship. When we have a gathering for prayer the sanctuary is full, and we're going to pray.

That is amazing. Amazing, what God has done. I'm saying "Lord, I'm asking for even more. Let's see-- God, pour out your Holy Spirit in even greater measure, upon your church. May we fall even more in love with you. May this be an even greater church of worship and prayer and a hungering after the things of God." Anybody want to agree with me for this prayer? Amen. Let's give a little praise. Absolutely.

The beginning of a new year is a good time to reassess. Reassess your priorities, especially spiritual priorities, because as you get another year older, you come to realize the value of the days that you have been given. Psalm 90:12-14, "Teach us the number our days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom with those days. Oh, satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness." See, this is revival right here. "Satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." What a great Psalm is that? "Teach to number our days," he said, "Teach us the number of days." It means to value them, to see how precious they are, "That we may present a heart of wisdom." That those days that God has given to us mean something. They're valuable, we treasure them.

In other words, let them increase our wisdom, that we give God that which is of great value. Now that brings us to 2 Chronicles 32. We've been looking at this, of course, before the Christmas break, Hezekiah was reigning as king in Judah, in those days. He was a good king. He was, in fact, the greatest king since David and Solomon. He trusted in the Lord, he brought about a great revival, which we were looking at before. He brought reforms that even Solomon had not done, and God used him. God used him. In other words, his life mattered. He used the days that God had given him, and he made a difference with his life.

Because of Hezekiah's faithfulness and Hezekiah's revival that he brought to Israel; God saved them as a nation. If you remember the story, Assyria had almost destroyed Judah. Assyria, at this point was a world power and almost destroyed Judah. Hezekiah prepared Israel for a siege, we read. He engineered a tunnel to divert the Gihon Springs to the pool of Siloam there inside Jerusalem, 1,777 feet long, through solid bedrock, 30 feet underground.

Whenever we go to Israel, by the way, we can actually walk through Hezekiah's Tunnel today. Although so many people walk through it, they don't drink the water, of course, but it is quite an experience to walk through. As sure enough, Assyria laid siege to Jerusalem, then the King of Assyria wrote a letter to Hezekiah insulting Jehovah, insulting the God of Israel. Hezekiah dropped that scroll up to the temple, laid it out before the Lord, "Read what they're saying about you, God." Then he prayed, it was just a simple prayer.

God responded by saying to him, "Because you prayed, because you turned to Me, because you trusted in Me and prayed about the king of Assyria, I heard you. I will put a hook in his nose--" I love this part, "I will bring him back from which he came." That night, an angel of the Lord came throughout the camp of Assyria and the 185,000 soldiers of Assyria, mysteriously died.

I. Set Your House in Order

That brings us to this part of the story. Surely after that Hezekiah became mortally ill, we don't know the exact nature of the illness, but we do know that there was some kind of boil associated with it, maybe it was a cancer, we don't know. The prophet, Isaiah, came to Hezekiah with a message from the Lord, "This illness is terminal. Set your house in order for you'll die and not live." How Hezekiah responds to that, he cries out to God for more time. In other words, "I'm not done. Can I have more time?"

God answered that prayer gave him 15 more years, and the life lessons out of this are epic, so let's read it. We're in 2 Chronicles 32, and we'll begin reading in 2 Chronicles 32:22. "The Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, which I mentioned, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side, and many," notice now, "Many were bringing gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem, choice presence to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations after this. He defeated the king of Assyria."

Everyone, all the nations exalted his name, "The great Hezekiah." "In those days," verse 24, "Hezekiah became mortally ill. He prayed to the Lord and the Lord spoke to him and even gave him a sign, the sign of the promise that his word would be true." In fact, Isaiah said, "God will give you a sign, shall the shadow move forward 10 steps or backward, 10 steps." He said, "It's common for it to move forward, let it move backward, 10 steps." It's an amazing display of God's power to give a sign like that as evidence and proof that His word was sure.

Verse 25 gives us a little hint of some of the lessons we're going to learn from his story. Verse 25, "Hezekiah gave no return, for the benefit that he received because His heart was proud." He became such a famous man; his acclaim was known throughout the known world and his heart became lifted up he was so popular. Therefore, wrath came on him and Judah and Jerusalem. However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the wrath of the Lord did not come on them during the days of Hezekiah." It did come in later.

"Now Hezekiah had immense riches and honor and he made for himself treasuries of silver and gold and precious stones and spices and shields and all kinds of valuable articles, storehouses also for the produce of grain, wine, oil and pens of all kinds of cattle and sheepfolds for flocks. He made cities for himself, and he acquired flocks and herds in abundance, God had given him great wealth. He was very prosperous because of the blessing of God."

"It was Hezekiah who stopped up the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon, I mentioned and directed him to the west side of the City of David, really underneath the City of David, and Hezekiah prospered in all that he did. Even in this matter of the envoys, of the rulers of Babylon." It just makes a short reference here but it's important to get the bigger picture of what happened. What happened, I'll tell you, was this, Assyria, after this event, which we described, became quite weakened, they lost 185,000 soldiers and King Sennacherib himself was killed. After this, Assyria became weakened, and Babylon started to arise.

The king of Babylon sent envoys, emissaries, with a gift, and a greeting, "Oh, we heard you were sick, and that you have recovered. Here, we receive a gift from the king of Babylon." Hezekiah welcomed these emissaries, these envoys, and then showed them all of his vast wealth. It's like, "Oh, do you see, look at all of the things that I have accumulated. Look at the shields of gold on the throne room of the king and all of the vast storehouses and look at all the--" everything he showed them.

Isaiah came to him afterward and said, "Who were these men? From where did they come? What did you show them?" He said, "Oh, these were from Babylon, the king of Babylon." "What did you show them?" "I showed them everything, I held nothing back of my great wealth. I showed them everything." Isaiah said, "This, was a foolish thing. Everything that you showed them will be taken. Everything will be taken."

It says in verse 31, "Even in this matter of the envoys, of the rulers of Babylon who sent to him to inquire the wonder that had happened to the land, God left him alone only to test him that he might know all that was in his heart. The rest of the acts of Hezekiah and the deeds of devotion behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the Prophet," we will get to that when we get to the book of Isaiah, "In the book of the King of Kings of Judah and Israel there. Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the upper section of tombs of the Sons of David and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him greatly on his death, and his son Manasseh became king in his place."

These are the verses that we want him to look at. Great lessons for us starting with this, he is told to, "Set your house in order." It's a good word. In fact, it's a phrase that is commonly used even today. Someone who's facing a terminal illness sometimes a doctor will say, "There's nothing more we can do, you should get your affairs in order." You see, it’s a common understanding today. For many people, when they hear that, "You should get your affairs in order," what that means, for many people, is putting together a last will and testament so that their family doesn't have to argue about everything after they're gone.

A. Keep your relationships in order

I submit that if that's all there is, that you left, that which can be sorted out by a lawyer, that you haven't left enough that God wants you to leave more than that. Something greater something that does not need to be sorted out by a lawyer, something of tremendous impact, leave behind you. Wouldn't you rather leave a legacy that you made an impact on the lives of the people in your life? That’s what I want. I want to leave more than just things and money to those who follow after me. I want to leave a legacy of the spirit, I want to make an impact on this world, I want to know that I left this world a little better than how I found it.

Anybody want to agree with me? I want to make an impact, I want my life to matter. To get your life in order needs means that you start to think about the value of your days. The value and the impact of your life, the treasure of your days. You start to think about it, particularly as you get older and your hair turns a little grayer, you start thinking about the value of your days, the impact of what you’re-- and I'll tell you, I've been thinking a lot, I have so many goals and as I get older, I have so many goals to accomplish. There's no time to retire, I got way too much to do.

First of all, one of the goals that I have is that the church would be alive, that the church would be very healthy in the spirit, that there would be a revival in the church. That's one of my life goals because I love this church and it means so much to me that this church would be alive, oh, that means so much to me. It's one of my great life goals.

Also, one of my life goals is I want to leave a complete set of sermons from Genesis to Revelation. I want to leave the next generation of pastors that follows after me something that they can resource. Here are all the messages from Genesis to Revelation, every verse, every chapter, here's it all. I want to leave a legacy. We're launching a ministry to bless Israel. Pastor Matthew and I are launching that this year, we hope to be making announcements about that, we're going to make an impact on this world with a ministry that will bless Israel. That's exciting for me.

I want to write books. In fact, Pastor Matthew has been helping me write a book on leadership and I hope to get that done. I'm editing it, and I'm trying to get that done. I'm excited about that.

I want to write a book on how God makes the soul beautiful. To bring forth a beautiful life. When we fall in love with the Lord, God does that which is beautiful on your soul. That would be so important to leave as a legacy. I have a series of books that I want to write on the life lessons from Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and each of the books of the Bible. It's going to take me 50 years to write these books, so God give me 50 more years at least. Amen.

I'm not going to tell you how old I am but there you go. These are my bucket list of things to do. Many people have a bucket list of experiences. Wouldn't it be great if we had a bucket list of the impact that we can make with our lives? Teach us to treasure our days. Therefore, I think there's some good insights that we can see. Number one, keep your relationships in order, keep your affairs in order, see, keep your house in order starting with your relationships.

The Scripture clearly teaches that it's good and godly to keep relationships in order. Notice Romans 12:18, "If possible, so far as it depends on you be at peace with all men." First of all, I like the fact that it says, if possible, because frankly, some people are impossible, but as far as it has to do with you, you do all that you can do to be at peace. That's putting your relationships in order. Are there thank you notes to write? Do it now. Are there people you need to call to let them know how much they meant to you, how much they've impacted you? Do it. Do it now don't wait, don't put it off. Are there people you need to call and ask for their forgiveness for something you've done? Then do it.

Maybe you've been holding on to hurts and wounds and have allowed bitterness to take root. Then let go of it now, because that bitter route is going to keep you from peace and joy and keep you from that beautiful soul that God wants to build in your life. Hebrews 12:15, "See to it," make sure of it, "See to it, that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness, springing up, causes trouble," because it will, it will cause trouble on the soul, it will make the soul tremendously unsettled. By that bitter root, many are defiled.

I was thinking of the story of St. Francis of Assisi who was out working in his garden pulling weeds and a young Bible student came up to talk with him and asked St. Francis this question and said, "What would you do if you were told that you only had a short time left to live? What would you do?" Francis famously answered, "I would finish weeding this row of vegetables, that's what I would do." In other words, I've already done it, there's nothing left to do. I've kept my life in order, I've kept my house in order, there's nothing left undone. "I will finish this row of vegetables, that's what I will do."

B. Set your spiritual life in order

I just love that answer. Paul wrote a very similar word of wisdom to the church at Ephesus, this is Ephesians 4:26-27, "In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry," keep your affairs in order. "Don't let the sun go down even while you're still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." In other words, settle your account so quickly, don't even let the sun go down. You're settling your account so quickly, don't even let the sun go down. Which is why I like to start all of my angered issues after sunset, then I got a whole other day, I'm just joking.

Now the point is to settle the matter today because the devil will get a foothold. If you allow that anger to stir you up and you hold on to that anger and that anger starts to do something-- no, don't let the devil get that foothold, keep your affairs in order. Then I add, set your spiritual life in order. Hezekiah was told in advance that this would end in his death and to get his house in order. Now, most people don't have that opportunity, they're not told in advance. If you were told in advance, wouldn't that cause you to not only get your house in order, your affairs in order, wouldn't that also get your spiritual life in order?

Of course, I've talked to a number of people who've been given a diagnosis of terminal cancer and the opportunity that it brings to think about your life, spiritually. Are you ready? The point is, why wait until such a diagnosis? The word really is, we should live in a way that our spiritual lives are always in order, always fresh in the Lord, always alive in the Lord.

Are you ready? Are you ready now? Would you be ready if you were to stand before the Lord today? Don't wait to get ready, be ready. You never know anyway, you never know. You never know when your life's going to end, an accident could happen at any time. Why wait to get ready? Let your house be in order, all of the house. Let the light shine on all of the life, all of the closets, all of the pantry, everything, let it all-- when I was single, my house, my apartment always looked in order.

If you were to open the door and came in, you would say, "Oh, it's in order, just don't look to the closets and the pantry," because they weren't in order. Of course, today, it's a different story. Today all the closets and pantries are in order, you know why, because I'm married to my wife who loves to be organized. I love that. There's many things to love but I love that.

Too many people, they procrastinate spiritually, and that's my point. "Oh, I'll do it later. I know, I want to get my spiritual house in order. I know, I'll do it," and then procrastinate. As we start the beginning of the year, it's a good opportunity to realize, don't wait. It's far too important. Don't wait another day. Don't wait, don't put it off. This is a matter of tremendous urgency, to know that if you were to stand before God today, that it would go well, means the world. If God were to weigh you in the balance, how would you be found?

If God were to weigh you in the balance, it reminds me of that story, later on in the history of Israel, when they are taken captive in Babylon. The story unfolds that a Babylonian king named Belshazzar, he was living the life of really partying it up, he used to host these tremendous parties, the alcohol would just flow, and the women and everything. When they decided, "Bring out the holy articles that we took from the house of Jehovah in Israel, we're going to drink wine. We're going to drink wine, and we're going to have a great party, and we're going to drink out of those goblets that we brought from the temple of the house of God, that's what we're going to do."

They're having this party, and they're drinking the wine and whatever, out of the goblets from the temple of the house of God when out of nowhere, a hand appears, just a hand that writes letters, scratches the letters in the border on the wall and the party comes to a halt. No one can interpret the words-- the letters written scrolled by this hand. Daniel, the prophet of Israel, was brought, "Mene, mene, tekel upharsin," it said. Daniel turned to the king and said, "It means this, that God has numbered your days, that you have been weighed in the scales, and you have been found wanting. There is nothing there. In the scales in which you have been weighed, there is nothing there, and your kingdom will be taken from you this very night."

In fact, it was prophetic because the armies that are rising against them were stopping up the waters of the Euphrates, that they could sneak in, under the gates. Is it possible that when you stand before the Lord and are weighed in the scales that you could stand there without fear of how you will be weighed? The Scripture says, "All have sinned, all have fallen short of the glory of God." If we were to be weighed in the scales, weighed in the balance, and all we had of an account of our lives was the sin that we had lived, I suggest to you that it would not go well in the balance of the scales because we will be set against the holiness of God.

When you put the holiness of God on one side of the scales and the sin of man and the other side of the scales, then we will be found the wanting, we will be found lacking. Is it possible? Is it even possible that a man can stand before the great throne of God and be weighed in His scales and not have any fear, but in fact, be confident on that great and holy day? Is that possible? I submit that it is very possible. In fact, 2 Corinthians 5:8, "We are confident, yes, and well pleased, for rather to be absent from the body and to be present from the Lord." I am longing for that day.

To be in the presence of the Lord, oh I am very confident of that day, I cannot wait for that day. Oh, I have every assurance of that day. Am I afraid of that day? Oh, that is my coronation day, that's my victory day. That's my day when I enter into the glory of my Master. I'm not afraid of that day. Won't you want to have that confidence when you're facing life internal? See, I love Hebrew 10:19-22. "Therefore, brethren, since we have such confidence to enter into the holiest place--" you have confidence.

Many people, when they think about the holiness of God, when they really think about the holiness of God and standing before the holiness of God, a lot of people recoil from the thought, "Oh, I would do very badly. If I had to stand before the holiness of God, I would do very badly." Many people think this way. Paul says-- the writer of Hebrews says, "Therefore, brethren, we have every confidence to enter into that holy place because we are entering in by the blood of Jesus. Our sins have been paid, and they have been paid in full. As far as the east is from the west so has he removed our transgressions from us." We have every confidence to enter into that holy place. Ah, that's a whole another joy, right there. That's a whole other joy right there.

You don't have to be afraid. You can walk in the confidence of the Lord. "Therefore," he says, "Let us draw near." Don't recoil, don't be distant, don't fall back from the Lord, draw near. Come near to the Lord, and let's draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of our faith. "I know in whom I have believed, and I am persuaded." I have full assurance of faith. Amen. Anybody else? That's confidence on the Lord absolutely.

II. Use Wisely the Time God Has Given

Then there's this now the 2 Chronicles 32, use wisely the time that God has given. When Hezekiah heard that he would die, that this thing was terminal, this illness, he turned his face to the wall, and he prayed. He prayed asking for more time. When he prayed this prayer, he was 39 years old. We know his age. He was 39 years old when he had this mortal illness, and he prayed for more time. 39 years old may seem old to someone who's 20, but many people feel that 39 is quite young, really, and I should know, I've been 39 many times. It's quite young, really? If you were to get, or someone is to get a diagnosis like this when you're 39, you'd say, "I'm not done." I would say the same, "I'm not done." I'm a little older than that, but I'm saying this thing, "I'm not done."

A. God is listening

He asked for more time. What we have to recognize is one of the great truths is that God heard. God is listening. This is one of the reasons why you must be very confident in praying, to know that God is listening. He turned his face with the wall, he spoke to God from the depths of his heart. He wept deeply. This is what happened. Isaiah the prophet came to Him on his bed and said, "This thing is mortal, set your house in order," and then left. As he was walking across the courtyard, while this was happening, Hezekiah was praying before Isaiah could get to the end of the court, God turned him around and said, "Go back and tell him that I heard your prayer and that I will give him 15 years, more."

If you want to use wisely the time that God has given, then you would be wise to understand the power of praying. We see that power of that praying in several places in Hezekiah's life, simple, sincere. James 5:16, "The fervent--" in other words, sincere and fervent prayer of a righteous man is very effective. When you think about the value and the treasure of your days, valuing the days, what makes those days effective, is to understand the power of God that is on the move and how that power of God moves through prayers of those who are sincere in their faith, very effective life. There's so many Scriptures that you can say.

I asked this question, would God have given Hezekiah those 15 more years if Hezekiah had not asked for them? Would God have given those years if Hezekiah had not asked. Answer, no, he would not. James 4:2 you do not have, because you do not ask. It's right to ask. In fact, Luke11:9-10, Jesus says, "I say to you, ask, I'm telling you to ask." God says, you can ask. It's good, ask any and it will be given to you. Seek, keep seeking and you will find, knock and keep knocking and it will be open to you for everyone who asks, receives, and to he who seeks will find, and unto who knocks it will be opened."

1 John 5:14, "This is the confidence that we have before him, that if we ask anything, according to his will, he hears us." Of course, he will not answer that which is contrary to his will. There is a side note here, I think it is important to add, and that is this question, does God heal people today. He healed them, he had a mortal illness and God healed him. The question then is present, does God heal today? I submit that God does still heal today and that we ought to ask for the intervening hand of our Jehovah Rapha. He does still heal today. Anybody else agree with me, and that we ought to ask?

B. Use your years for wisdom

The truth is that death happens to the best of us. Even Elisha, the great prophet died from some type of sickness. It is interesting, however, then instead of just healing Hezekiah, directly, he actually had Isaiah apply a common medicine to the boil. That's an interesting side note. Back to our story, a great lesson. Whatever years you have, use your years for wisdom. Teach us to treasure our days that we might give to you a heart of wisdom.

There's a great debate amongst Bible, scholars, and commentators, about whether or not it was a good thing that Hezekiah had these 15 more years. because some things happened during these 15 years that were not so good. Some suggest that he didn't know what he was asking when he asked for more time. The truth is that God is the one who answered this prayer and that it was up to Hezekiah to use those years wisely. He asked for more time, he asked sincerely for more time, God heard his prayer and God gave him the time, but it's up to Hezekiah, on how he uses those years.

The same is true for you and me. We don't know how much time God has given. How much time did God give you? We don't know. Whatever time God has given, the writer of Psalm says, I want to use it for your glory. Whatever I got, I want to use it for your glory. I don't want to waste my years. I want to use my years for your glory. I want to use my years.

What have you done with the years God has given? What do you wish to do with the years that are before you. The problem in Hezekiah's life, during those last 15 years, it says, we read in verse 25, that Hezekiah gave no return for the benefits that he received because his heart was proud. It's one of the temptations of success. Hezekiah prospered greatly. He brought about a great revival, then, as a result of that and then, of defeating the king of Assyria and then all the nations seeing all of this wonder and all the wealth and everything that he did, one of the temptations of success, even if that success is from the Lord, is for the heart to become proud. "I must have been something special for God to do such a thing for me. He must have seen something special about me." It's very tempting. The heart can easily become proud.

Notice again, verse 25, because one of the principles that I've learned in teaching through God's word, is that, a lot of times you can take a verse that contains a warning like this, and turn it around and out blossoms a wonderful principle. For example, verse 25, "Hezekiah gave no return for the benefits that he received because his heart was proud," there's the verse. Let's turn that around.

Let's turn that and let it blossom into a great truth, which is this. If your heart is humbled, and you recognize all the benefits that God has blessed you, then you'll give a return. Turn that around, turn that verse on its head, you might say, and then blossoms into a great truth. Give a return to the Lord. Has God blessed you? Has God gave benefit to your life? Oh, I'll tell you what, I look back on my life, I am blessed and blessed.

Oh, I've been through troubles. Many of you know the great troubles I've endured, but God's walked with me through every one of my troubles. He's never left me, He's never forsaken me. He's comforted me. He's encouraged me. He's strengthened me. He's blessed me. I tell you what, I have so much to be thankful for. Anybody else want to agree with that? I have so much to be thankful. Yes, let's give the Lord a blessing.

Then the principle that blossoms out of this verse is, if you can see it, if you can see how much that God has done for you-- out of the humility of your heart you say, "God did that. That was God's glory that did-- that was God's great hand. That was God's favor. That was God's heart that did that. I didn't deserve any of it. He didn't do it because I was so special. He did it because of his amazing glory. See the humility of your heart recognizes that God did it.

Then, once you see that God is the one that did it, you want to give a return. Like, "God, what can I do for you?" Anything that we do would not be commensurate. It would not be in any way, equal, but it's still right. Let's start with giving thanks for it. Let's start with recognizing and then he's the one who did it. Let's start with giving Him glory for it. That's a great story right there. You know what God finds that it's a beautiful thing. God says, "That's beautiful," when you see that God did it, when you give God glory for it, that's beautiful. "The Lord has done."

C. Finish the course well

In fact, God blessed Hezekiah in such amazing ways. Let's finish with this great lesson. Finish the course well. Even though Hezekiah was a great man of faith and the greatest king since David, it tells us that he run into these troubles. Although we do read in verse 26 don't miss verse 26 because it is a turnabout. His life was on a great trajectory of success and prosperity. Then he gave no return, so he made some fatal errors but then he humbled himself and he finished the course. Let's not finish that, let's not leave his story without reading. Verse 26.

Verse 26, "However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart." He finished the course. He corrected the course at the end. Praise God. Let's make sure that his name gets the right recognition at the end. He says he humbled the pride of his heart both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Then it summarizes all the blessings and the honor and all the prosperity, "Teach us to number our days. Teach us the value our days." The Apostle Paul is someone who finished well, when he was on the road to Damascus at the beginning of his ministry, God gave him a task, a life task, to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the gentile world.

When he came to the end of his life, he knew that he had finished the course that he had finished well. That should be our desire, notice, 2Timothy 4:6-7, "I am already being poured out like a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course, I have kept the faith."

Hebrews 12:1, "Therefore, let us lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles, and let us run, with endurance, this race that's set before us." Oh that's a good word right there. Run with endurance, the race. God has set a race before each one of us. Your own race, your own journey, your own path, your God has set before each one, your own path, your own journey. Run this race, with endurance, faithful, confident, strong of heart, confident in the Lord. Run well, finish the course, lay aside every encumbrance, that which is holding you back and the sin which so easily entangles.

Let's run this race with God's glory being manifest in a beautiful soul, and God's power being known because his people are effectual in their prayers, and their life is run the race that is run well. That's what I want for my life, anybody else?

Father we're so thankful. Oh we're so thankful for you, how you reveal yourself through your word in such glorious ways, reminding us again of the treasure the value of the days that we have been given. God we want to use those days for your glory. We want them to matter. We want them to count. We want to present to you a life well-lived.

Church, how many would say that to the Lord? I want to present to Him on that great day, when I enter into his courts with confidence on that day, I want to give to him a life well lived. That's what I want. I want to present my life to him, as a life well lived. I want him to say, "Well done, my son. "Well done my daughter well done, well lived."

Teach us to value our days. I want to live those days well. Church, is that you, would you raise your hand as a prayer, as a way of saying it, as a prayer to the Lord? God, I want to live my days well, my life well, that you would say, "Well done my son, my daughter well done." We love you Lord in Jesus' name, and everyone said--