Say the word, "treasure," and I immediately think of my family. Nothing can ever occupy my heart more than my wife and children. That's how God designed us to be. In fact, as I write this my nine year old daughter is home from school with a 102 temp. Of course, I am giving her meds and lots of water because she is one of my treasures. The ultimate goal for my children is that they grow strong in the Lord - as well as live a long and fruitful life - which hopefully extends into their 70 or 80's. But...what would happen to your heart today if God informed you that your children, in fact all children, would live no longer than 7 years! That's right. Seven years. Would it not tear your world apart? Would it destroy you? Would it cause your faith to be challenged?
And yet, tucked away in Genesis chapter 6 is this amazing verse by God which reads:
Genesis 6:3
Then the Lord said, "My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal life span will be no more than 12o years."
No big deal, right? One-hundred and twenty years seems like eternity for us today. But we must remember that in those days it was extremely common for people to live up to 700 and 800 years! And so when God proclaimed this decree, what God did to those aging parents in Genesis had to totally crush them. Their children's lives were now cut short by 1/7th of their life span! They were watching their babies die.
It's so easy to just to jump past this verse and move on to Noah's Ark. But let me contend that this was a significant hit to humanity. It was a "battle-ship" sinker. It had to destroy people - especially parents.
God could no longer put up with humans, at least, not for long periods of time.
We must remember that our days our truly numbered. We must remember life is fragile and life is indeed short. And while we are here on this earth, we must embrace our treasures and prepare them for the most important life to come.
Back to being Doctor Dad.
