Every Second Counts

Will we use them to apply our hearts to wisdom?

From a sermon by Nolan Roby

How would you like to have a check deposited in your bank account every day for $86,400, with the freedom to spend it any way you wanted to? You couldn't keep any of it after that day, but the next day you would get another deposit. We would appreciate something like that! Think of this: each one of us has 86,400 seconds given to us every day that we live, and we can do whatever we want to do with those seconds. They are a gift!

My grandfather, Joseph Simonini, an immigrant from Italy, lived to be ninety-six years of age. I have just turned seventy, so I have twenty-six more years on this earth if I live as long as my grandfather. My father, Arthur Roby, passed away the month he received his first Social Security check at the age of sixty-five. I have outlived him now by several years. Whether our span of life on earth is short or long, our lives are measured—our days are allotted to us by God.

In Psalm 90:12, we find instruction related to how we spend the time allotted to us. We read: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” This Scripture is really in the form of a prayer. The psalmist was asking for God's help that he might use his time to apply his heart to wisdom.

Today, we would encourage you to number your days that you might apply your heart to wisdom. Back in the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam freedom—the choice to do what he wanted with his life. God presents a choice to you and to me today, to do what we want to with our 86,400 seconds.

The other day, I watched someone spend ten seconds working a Rubik's cube—a new world record for solving that puzzle. There went ten seconds of a person's life. I do not have a problem with Rubik's cubes; there are many things we can do with our time and working a Rubik's cube is one of them. There are activities we undertake because they are necessary and others we do strictly for enjoyment. There are things we do that necessitate concentration and others that require little mental energy. But one thing we all need to do is to apply our hearts to wisdom. We must realize that acquiring wisdom is serious business.

In looking back to the Garden of Eden, we realize that when sin entered into the human family, mankind lost something. The moment Adam and Eve disobeyed God and violated His holiness through their disobedience, they cut themselves off from divine wisdom. Sin brought separation between God and man, and without divine wisdom, the circumstances of life became very difficult for man to interpret. Because man no longer had a connection with God who was above him, he had to be governed by that which was around him. The only way Adam and Eve could react to circumstances around them was through worldly wisdom.

God had to impart to Adam and Eve the knowledge that His holiness must be vindicated. Adam and Eve thought that they could hide from God, and cover the tremendous wickedness they had committed simply by sewing together fig leaves. God had to tell them that would not do. He had to help them understand that a blood sacrifice was necessary for the connection with Him to be restored.

The Bible says, “The fear of the L ord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). There are two kinds of fear that we face in our relationship with God. One is fear that God will hurt us, and the other is fear that we will hurt God. The first is selfish and produces no fruits of righteousness. The second one is the fear born of love, and it produces holiness of character and righteous conduct. That is a healthy fear. That is what the wisdom from above imparts.

Initially, the fear Adam and Eve felt was a selfish fear. But after they were driven from the Garden, at some point they must have imparted a godly fear to their son Abel. Perhaps they said to him, “Abel, the God of Heaven slew animals and presented us with coats of skin to hide our nakedness. This is what we must do.” Abel listened. And the time came when they were to offer sacrifices and the Bible says, “Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts” (Hebrews 11:4). The connection with God was restored, and Abel is recorded in God's Word as one of the early heroes of faith.

The wisdom of this world brings confusion and every evil work. Back in the time of the Tower of Babel , the people decided to build a tower “lest we be scattered” (Genesis 11:4). Their plans failed; the tower builders could not understand each other because God confounded their language. It is no different today. When people strike out in life on their own, there is confusion. If we follow the wisdom of this world there will always be spiritual confusion, no matter how clearly we think we are reasoning. But God is not the author of confusion. He is the author of peace.

We have 86,400 seconds a day to take advantage of this wisdom from above. Would you like length of days? Do you want all your paths to be ways of pleasantness? Would you like all your days to be days of peace? Proverbs 3:16-17 indicates these will be found in wisdom. We learn that wisdom is “a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her” (Proverbs 3:18). How would you like to bring life to everyone whose lives you touch? One who has prayed and asked God to give them heavenly wisdom impacts others in a positive way. There is tremendous influence in a godly life!

As we go through life we need wisdom. Sometimes we need wisdom to interpret what we are going through, even as Christians. We might question, “Why is this happening? What is this all about?” We stress the importance of prayer at the end of the services in the Apostolic Faith Church because we need to pray for wisdom.

James lets us know that we can ask for wisdom: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not” (James 1:5). God wants us to have wisdom so that we can interpret the situations we are going through in the light of His Holy Word. God will answer our prayers—He is not selfish. He said if we ask for wisdom, He will give it to us liberally.

Solomon was given a choice to ask what he wanted of God. He could have had anything, but of all the things he could have requested, he asked that God would give him an understanding heart. And God gave it to Him! Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. We have the same choice today. Think of the opportunity we have! God asks us, “What do you want to do with your 86,400 seconds today?” It is in my heart to say, “Lord, give me wisdom. I want to make an impact on this world. Help me to make my time count for You.”

The wisdom from above is not something that is just ministerial. It is not something austere. It is practical! James describes wisdom from above as “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). It works all the way through your life! Every contact you have with someone is enhanced through godly wisdom. Your motives are pure and peaceable. Your dealings with others are gentle. You are easy to be entreated. Your attitude is one of mercy. That is the wisdom from above.

Do you want to make a favorable impression on people? The Lord will give you wisdom. King Solomon had a visit from the Queen of Sheba. She came with an entourage of people, servants, gifts—and some hard questions. But for every question she posed, Solomon gave her an answer. We read that when she saw the wisdom of Solomon and the way the God of Heaven helped him in his kingdom, “there was no more spirit in her.” There is something about the wisdom of God that becomes apparent.

When I was sixteen years old, I prayed in Medford and gave my heart to God. I can look down through my life and see times when I would get down on my knees and ask God for wisdom, and the Lord helped.

My wife and I had the blessed privilege of celebrating our fiftieth anniversary this past year. There have been times in the years that we have been married that I would awake in the night and hear my wife out in the living room praying. She had learned that prayer brings wisdom. Of all the things that we can desire, nothing compares with this wisdom, this ability to rightly interpret all the things that come into our lives.

On August 23 of this past year, in the tiny nation of Losotho in southern Africa , a young woman was working on the job. Her coworkers heard her scream and came running, thinking she was hurt. She was fine, but the tenth largest diamond in the world had just come before her on the conveyer belt. Weighing in at 603 carats, the diamond was slightly larger than a golf ball. That young woman was excited!

The writer of Proverbs said, “She [wisdom] is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her” (Proverbs 3:15). The Psalmist says “I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil” (Psalm 119:162). We should be excited at the prospects of what is available to us through the wisdom of God!

Today, let us take advantage of those 86,400 seconds that God gives us every day and pray that God will apply our hearts to wisdom.

Nolan Roby is a retired pastor of the Apostolic Faith Church, and is a member of the church in Medford, Oregon.