Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844)

Virtually unknown today, Asahel Nettleton was considered an equal to the great preachers George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards.

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12)

One night, young Asahel watched the sun set and realized that his life too would “fade into the darkness of the world“. Despite being reared by Christian parents, he rejected Christianity for portraying God as angry against sinners. He attempted to rise beyond Christianity by morality and performing good deeds. His efforts only produced more doubts, fearing, “What if the Bible should prove to be true! Then I am lost forever.”

At the age of 18, he began reading the sermons of Jonathan Edwards. The Holy Spirit convicted him that he was a sinner, condemned by God. The nearness of death and the word “eternity” rang continually in his head. After 10 months, he was converted, trusting Jesus alone to save him from his attempted morality and good deeds.

Upon graduating from Yale, a university established for training pastors, Asahel labored as an evangelist, filling pulpits for a weeks at a time where no pastor was present. It was his custom to preach three times on Sunday and at least as many times during the week on the great doctrines of the Bible. Grace, faith, election, the Trinity, the inspiration and authority of the Bible, the heinous nature of sin, and the sovereignty of God were favored themes in his exposition of Biblical texts.

In one town he so effectively warned of the eternal consequences of their sins, church members were convinced he’d hired spies to tattle on them. By his direct preaching of the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit opened their hearts to the truth that a condemning God also made a way to Himself through the sacrificial death of His own Son, Jesus. By faith in Christ alone, the Father forgives sinners and receives them unto Himself.

During his 33 years of ministry, it’s said 30,000 people were saved, and decades later, nearly all could be traced to living Christian lives. In fact, a survey was done of all 84 converts in an 1818 meeting, and 26 years later all 84 had remained faithful to Christ. This was his legacy.

Ill heath afflicted Asahel in his 30s when he contracted Typhus, which affected him the remainder of his life. The final two decades of his life alternated between teaching at the Theological Seminary of Connecticut and being bedridden by excruciating pain made worse by ineffective surgeries and medical treatments.

At the same time, Nettleton took the lead in a great spiritual battle for truth against the teachings and “new methods” of a man named Charles Finney.

There is No Vaccine to Prevent Death

William Shakespeare receiving the Covid vaccine on December 9, 2020.

On December 9, 2020, William “Bill” Shakespeare reached the pinnacle of his fame. He was the first person in the United Kingdom and the second person in the world to receive a Covid vaccine. Despite receiving the Covid vaccine, Mr Shakespeare died of a stroke on May 20, 2021.

Mr Shakespeare was 81 years old and is survived by his wife of 53 years.

You can die of Covid as easily as in a car accident, getting a paper cut, or by falling from your bed. There is no vaccine to prevent death. It’s impossible to social distance yourself from the march of time. And wearing a mask over your mouth and nose is powerless against the ravages of sin.

The Bible says that sin the cause of all physical and spiritual death. Each of us is approaching our God-appointed date with death. Psalm 139:16 informs us that God saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. Thus the psalmist prayed, Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12).

A wise life is one which honors the Lord who gave that life. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil (Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14).

Counting the Days

Joshua and Centrina

Wedding invitations have been printed and delivered. Plans for food and music set. A preacher’s services secured. Arrangements for family and friends settled. And of course, special clothing for the groom and bride. They have made themselves ready and now they wait.

My young Kenyan friend is getting married. The wedding date is coming quickly. He’s counting the days until he takes his lovely bride unto himself and becomes her husband and she becomes his wife.

You may be counting the days until returning to school, work, or life returning to “normal.” Others count the days until a vacation, a holiday, or simply the weekend. We count the days until a child is born, a birthday celebrated, or death arrives. Everyone is counting the days until something.

Whatever day you are counting toward, that day will surely and soon arrive. Once it comes, there will be other days to look forward to on the calendar of life. We sigh and wait as we count the days ahead; then we sigh and wonder as we recount the days gone by. Sigh and count, but learn the wisdom of Scripture. Ask the Lord to teach you wisdom to make the best and most God-honoring use of the days you have.

Moses prayed, We finish our years like a sigh … So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:9, 12).

A Calendar or Clock

Time is a curiosity to me. And the way we think about time is even more curious.

Sunday morning I was staring at the clock on my bathroom wall. A clock is round. As long as it has power it measures time without a distinct beginning or an end. The calendar, on the other hand, is different. It has a distinct beginning and end by day, week, month, and year.

When you think about your life, is it a calendar or clock? Either way, time runs out. 

Teach us to number our days (Psalm 90:12).

Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844)

Virtually unknown today, Asahel Nettleton was considered an equal to the great preachers George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards.

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12)

One night, young Asahel watched the sun set and realized that his life too would “fade into the darkness of the world“. Despite being reared by Christian parents, he rejected Christianity for portraying God as angry against sinners. He attempted to rise beyond Christianity by morality and performing good deeds. His efforts only produced more doubts, fearing, “What if the Bible should prove to be true! Then I am lost forever.”

At the age of 18, he began reading the sermons of Jonathan Edwards. The Holy Spirit convicted him that he was a sinner, condemned by God. The nearness of death and the word “eternity” rang continually in his head. After 10 months, he was converted, trusting Jesus alone to save him from his attempted morality and good deeds.

Upon graduating from Yale, a university established for training pastors, Asahel labored as an evangelist, filling pulpits for a weeks at a time where no pastor was present. It was his custom to preach three times on Sunday and at least as many times during the week on the great doctrines of the Bible. Grace, faith, election, the Trinity, the inspiration and authority of the Bible, the heinous nature of sin, and the sovereignty of God were favored themes in his exposition of Biblical texts.

In one town he so effectively warned of the eternal consequences of their sins, church members were convinced he’d hired spies to tattle on them. By his direct preaching of the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit opened their hearts to the truth that a condemning God also made a way to Himself through the sacrificial death of His own Son, Jesus. By faith in Christ alone, the Father forgives sinners and receives them unto Himself.

During his 33 years of ministry, it’s said 30,000 people were saved, and decades later, nearly all could be traced to living Christian lives. In fact, a survey was done of all 84 converts in an 1818 meeting, and 26 years later all 84 had remained faithful to Christ. This was his legacy.

Ill heath afflicted Asahel in his 30s when he contracted Typhus, which affected him the remainder of his life. The final two decades of his life alternated between teaching at the Theological Seminary of Connecticut and being bedridden by excruciating pain made worse by ineffective surgeries and medical treatments.

At the same time, Nettleton took the lead in a great spiritual battle for truth against the teachings and “new methods” of a man named Charles Finney.