16/06/2024
The Summation of Life in 10 Minutes
Three Score and Ten – The Years of A Man’s Life
Dr. Jake Baker
Today, June 15th, is my 70th birthday, and at this age one must begin the serious process of inventorying the years, doing the accounting on his deeds, and taking honest measure of his service to Yahweh.
Friends, life is difficult. It is a sojourn into what seems like reality but is, in fact, a poor dress rehearsal for eternity. Many of these days are days of sadness and disappointment. We mourn at the death of parents, children and loved ones. We struggle under the load of toil and sorrows that seem to rise up, even at times, higher than the mountains.
We look around and the strength of our youth has been spent and the responsibility of family and jobs surround and consume our every waking thought.
Then, as quickly as a passing dream in the shadows of night, we are nearing the end and we wonder: What is there to show for who I was … who I am? Will I even be remembered beyond the work of the last shovel?
Now, at seventy, I am an old man by most measures, and I have ringing in my ears Psalm 90 and the Prayer of Moses. But even after this prayer, there is more … there are the Joshua years. The question at three score years and ten is this:
Will I have Joshua years?
Adonai, you have been our dwelling place
in every generation.
Before the mountains were born,
before you had formed the earth and the world,
from eternity past to eternity future
you are God.
You bring frail mortals to the point of being crushed,
then say, “People, repent!”
For from your viewpoint a thousand years
are merely like yesterday or a night watch.
5 When you sweep them away, they become like sleep;
by morning they are like growing grass,
6 growing and flowering in the morning,
but by evening cut down and dried up.
7 For we are destroyed by your anger,
overwhelmed by your wrath.
8 You have placed our faults before you,
our secret sins in the full light of your presence.
9 All our days ebb away under your wrath;
our years die away like a sigh.
10 The span of our life is seventy years,
or if we are strong, eighty;
yet at best it is toil and sorrow,
over in a moment, and then we are gone.
11 Who grasps the power of your anger and wrath
to the degree that the fear due you should inspire?
12 So teach us to count our days,
so that we will become wise.
13 Return, ADONAI! How long must it go on?
Take pity on your servants!
14 Fill us at daybreak with your love,
so that we can sing for joy as long as we live.
15 Let our joy last as long as the time you made us suffer,
for as many years as we experienced trouble.
16 Show your deeds to your servants
and your glory to their children.
17 May the favor of Adonai our God be on us,
prosper for us all the work that we do —
yes, prosper the work that we do.
There are those who have said of me that even at my age I am as strong as an ox and almost as smart. They remind me that history is not kind to truth or to those who carry its burden. Yet, we are called to be the bearers of the light of the Gospel.
I remarked recently on an episode of The Baker Report that there is a difference between Christianity and the Kingdom. It is the difference between the elements of the egg and steak breakfast. For such a meal, it is an easy thing for the chicken … but it is a true commitment for the bovine. Likewise, the difference between Christianity and the Kingdom.
A Christian walks the aisle and makes a confession of repentance and faith and vows to, as best as possible, “act like Jesus.” But those who are warriors of the Kingdom (the Elect, if you will) walk down the aisle to the alter, climb upon the alter and sacrifice the flesh, offering themselves a living sacrifice, all that they are or were or will be, that they might no longer live, but that Yeshua might live instead through them.
The result is often a life of turmoil and strife because the world no longer sees them, they instead see Yeshua living through them. And as they hated Him, they will of a surety hate you, as He lives through you. The years of a Kingdom saint are often difficult and are tried by fire repeatedly.
Moses, in sorrow, understood that. While he predated the physical appearance of Messiah, he understood entirely the service to God. He lamented: (This from the Complete Jewish Bible Psalm 90 verse 10)
“The span of our life is seventy years, or if we are strong, eighty; yet at best it is toil and sorrow, over in a moment, and then we are gone.”
He continues:
“Who grasps the power of your anger and wrath to the degree that the fear due you should inspire?”
Adonai, you are all powerful and we are but dust. Who can even begin to understand your rage against sin? But, come the morning, we entreat Yahweh, fill us with your joy. Match our days of suffering with the days of your joy that we might know, experience, and celebrate for all of our lives your joy and gladness.
Reveal yourself and your righteousness to us and bless what we your servants have done – bless our offspring that they too might know the glory of your presence. Grant blessing to what we have done in our lives that we might rejoice in you and in the service, you have allowed us to carry out – Yes, Lord, grant your blessing on our lives that all we have done will be ministry unto you.
That, my friends, is my prayer for myself … but more importantly, for all of you. That you will realize that life is short and tenuous.
When you are young, you lay your head on your pillow at night … you dream a dream of your life … and in the morning light, you stretch and yawn, and as you finally fully awaken, you realize that suddenly, you are three score years and ten. Life is like a v***r, it passes quickly and deserves your utmost attention, lest in the end, you find so much of it is wasted and will be burned up as wood, hay, and stubble.
Don’t waste another minute on the frivolities and vanities of this life because the years fly by and especially now, as we boldly march further into these last days, there is no time for spiritual sloth. Paul tells us in Hebrews 6: 1:
Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.
These are the days of coming to perfection and becoming warriors of the Kingdom. And let no one see their youth as a barrier or their age as an obstacle. Joshua at the age of seventy demanded that he be allowed to take the high ground where the giants lived. At three score years and ten he said, take me to the mountain, show me a giant and fetch me a sword.
It is time that all of us demand that we be allowed to take the high ground. So, wherever you are in life, remember that all of this is as a flower blooming in the morning and gone in the evening. Whether you have the vigor of youth or the wisdom of age, you are nonetheless called to be a warrior… not a bench or pew warmer.
So go to the mountain, find a giant and fetch a sword. For it is by this that the prayer of Moses will be answered. Going to the mountain, finding a giant and fetching a sword will indeed bring blessing and prosperity to the work of your hands and the Glory of the Lord will shine down on your posterity.
