The month of October here in the States, is quite a beautiful month. We begin to see the leaves changing colors. I live In New Jersey and normally the last week of October to the first week of November are the best two weeks of the year for looking at the beauty of God’s creation as it goes into twilight and then to sleep for about 6 months, until God reawakens the creation in all of its beauty in the Springtime. The last weekend of October is also the time when we set the clocks back and gain an extra hour of sleep on the last Sunday but it also ushers in the shortness of the day when we begin to see twilight at about 4:00 PM. In the summer, I love to sit out on my front porch and welcome the darkness as it transitions from evening into night. It is at that time I am able to actually hear the crickets come out and make their sounds of summer. I also love to watch the Lightning Bugs as they begin to ascend from their daily sleeping places and how they dot the landscape with their lights. I guess I am still a kid at heart because when a lightning bug comes close to me, I try to get my hand underneath it and get it to land on my hand so I can see it up close. Summertime is a beautiful time of the year but as with all things on earth, summer eventually fades as it gives way to the colder weather and finally winter.

In the verse above we are reading one of David’s desires that he requests of God. David knows that the summer time of his life is over and that he is beginning his trek toward the fall and winter of his life. In other words, David was acknowledging that great fact in every person’s life that his earthly sojourn was coming to an end. David still had a great zeal for God and for the work of the Lord. David’s prayer was that God would allow him to live long enough on this earth to make sure that he finished the work that God gave him to do. You see the work of Christianity will never be finished until the last day, when the last person is saved, but the work that God assigns each of His children will come to an end. God gives His children certain assignments concerning the Gospel work and when that assignment is done, the child can then go home for eternal rest.

I remember some time ago I was standing in the cemetery in Hopelawn, NJ where the majority of the members of my family are buried. It is a strange feeling to stand on your own future grave. I met my cousin and her husband there and we started to talk about the end result of all the bickering, gossiping, character assassinations, etc., that family members partake of and that sap our strength. I remember commenting to my cousin that of all the shenanigans that went on in our lifetime, what was the final outcome? Nothing! The ones who disliked each other are now buried next to each other. What things we waste our time on. What message does this leave the next generation?

David wanted to be sure that those in the future knew the truth about God, even though he was not going to be around anymore. As he got older, he became wiser in his walk with the Lord. As we become older and as twilight approaches, is our walk with the Lord becoming more intimate or distant? Are we concerned about the spiritual legacy that we are going to leave to succeeding generations? We need to assess where we are right now and where we may need to do repairs. As long as we are still breathing, we still have the time to get things right and to make sure that we focus hard on our spiritual legacy. Too many people are more concerned about how much money they are going to leave their family members. As Christians we need to be concerned about what we are going to leave future generations. Will we serve our generation as David served his? Now more than ever the Elect of God must stop toying with the toys of earth and begin to muster their spiritual strength and start serving their generation.

David’s desire was not to be taken home until he had finished his work. How many Christians do not even know what they are to do? Many walk around as spiritual zombies and just go from author to author, church to church, philosophy to philosophy, they know more about secular things than they do the Bible. A Christian void of biblical knowledge is like a cloud without rain. A cloud without rain just obscures the sun for a while, you know the cloud is there but it makes no impression on you. So are those Christians who make the world and its philosophies their goal.