So, you want to know what happened to Hoss and Billy? (To refresh your memory on the story in Part 1, click here.)

So do I. I’ll just have to finish writing that story to find out.

But the point of that story was not what did happen, but what could happen. None of us are guaranteed another day, or even another minute, of life. And even if we stay alive, our lives could be changed dramatically, in just an instant.

And that brings me to the next verse that means so much in my life:

Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.  – Psalms 90:12

I’m a dad of four (now grown) children, and nothing is more important to me than equipping them to make wise choices with their lives. And the only wisdom I trust is the wisdom that God grants us through his Word.

Will my kids make mistakes? Of course they will. They’re human. But it won’t be because they didn’t know that God’s wisdom is there for the taking, and that God gave us this wisdom to protect us from foolish choices. Some unwise choices could hurt them now, but all of them will hurt in the end. And could result in their spiritual deaths.

But Why “Number Our Days?”

Bible scholars may disagree on this, but here’s what I’ve told my kids. Numbering our days is at the heart of wisdom because it drives the point home that we are not God. Statistics show the death rate in American is 1 in 1.

Yet, it was this very desire that started all sin. Lucifer’s wish to be elevated above God led to his banishment from heaven, along with one-third of the angels. Why wouldn’t God, then, make it clear in His word that anyone who desires wisdom must first understand that he is a finite being with only a limited number of days on this earth?

Hoss and Billy

If Hoss had taken this verse to heart, maybe he wouldn’t have risked his own life, and the lives of other (including Billy), by getting behind the wheel of his truck after drinking too much that night. Maybe Billy, if he had really believed God, would have brought Jesus into his heart sooner, had he understood that his opportunities to do so were almost gone.

My prayer is that you’ll let God’s wisdom help you undersand who He is, and who you really are.