Daily Verse
Thursday, August 13, 2026
Stewardship
🎧 Listen to Today's Devotional
Thursday's Reflection
Psalm 90:12 — So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Of all the things God entrusts to us, time is the one we most easily waste, because it does not feel like a possession. Money sits in an account where we can see it. Talents can be measured and developed. But time slips by silently, the same amount given to every person, impossible to save and impossible to recover once it is spent. Moses, who wrote this psalm, asks God for the wisdom to number our days — to live with an honest awareness that our time on earth is finite and is steadily running out. He is not being morbid. He is being a good steward, recognizing that time is a trust, and a brief one.
Numbering our days does not mean living in fear of death or obsessing over how little time we have. It means letting the brevity of life sharpen our priorities. When we forget that our days are numbered, we drift — we pour our hours into things that do not matter and assume there will always be time later for the things that do. But there is no "later" guaranteed to anyone. The person who honestly remembers that life is short begins to live differently: more intentionally, less wastefully, more focused on what will actually count when their days run out. An awareness of the end clarifies how to spend the middle.
This is one of the most practical areas of stewardship, because every one of us is spending time right now, whether we think about it or not. The question is not whether we will spend our days, but on what. A life can be frittered away in distraction and triviality just as surely as a fortune can be wasted — and time, unlike money, can never be earned back. Moses asks God to teach us this, because it does not come naturally; we have to learn it. The wise steward looks honestly at the shortness of life and resolves to apply their heart to what matters, while there is still time to do it.
Prayer: Lord, teach us to number our days. Keep us from drifting through our time as if it were endless, and give us the wisdom to spend our days on what truly matters. Help us to be faithful stewards of the time You have entrusted to us. Amen.