Number my days...
Notes
Transcript
Psalm 90
Psalm 90
This past week, we celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I hope you were all able to see that this season should be filled with joy. I know there was some strife in our household. It takes some elbow grease to get kinks worked out. Joy is a process, it’s a choice, and it takes a lot of work sometimes. It’s not a one sided thing either. It takes both sides working hard together to see the end of the goal. It also takes those people WALKING together thru to the end to make things better.
This should be a time of restoration for all people, thankfulness. For most of us, it’s a struggle. We barely make it across the finish line, hoping for next year to be better. Well, in the next 2 weeks, we’re going to continue our break from Exodus, before we start getting into the instructions from God to the Israelites, and work on setting up the year for us.
Today, we’re going to be in Psalm 90. Now, when I started thinking about these verses, I just thought of one. Lord, teach me to number my days. As I opened to find it, I read the first verse and noticed, this is a psalm of Moses. It’s the only Psalm attributed to Moses, there are two others in the Old Testament, Exodus 15, and Deut 32. The first one was a song of deliverance, the second, a song that is right before his death, and it outlines the wilderness experience for the Israelites.
Psalm 90 likely comes from the beginning of the wilderness experience. It is pretty specific about the details of the fact that the Israelites are a bunch of whiners. They are! They complain about everything, and very quickly. Just like we do. We so quickly lose track of all the Lord has done for us. Almost immediately we give up ground to the enemy. It’s terrible how we give up so quickly. Our willpower is very weak. Coming into 2026, let’s make some spiritual sweat, shed some dead weight and build on a foundation healthier than we’ve ever had. The way we do that, is by taking into God’s perspective the brevity of our life in the eyes of eternity. Moses lines out a good foundation for us here, so let’s get started.
1 Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Kids - when you think about a dwelling place, describe it to me. How do you feel about a dwelling place?
A theme throughout Exodus we’ve been talking about and that is the Lord reminding His people to remember Him. The word dwelling is also translated “strength” or “assistance.”. The Lord has been the Hebrew’s strength and shield over the generations. From the beginning, the Lord has provided for His people. Not only has He provided, but He’s made a way for them too.
What made the Hebrew people a stain to the Egyptians? It was the fact that they would not let their heritage go. They taught all of their families about the Word and the Might of God. Moses was raised by this mother for 3 years, and those 3 years bolstered a foundation in him that he never forgot as he was being raised as royalty in Egypt.
They didn’t know their God, but God knew them. God knew exactly where His people were, what they were going thru...and was encouraging them all...just a little while longer, and we’ll be together, and I’ll teach you about Me, so you can teach generations to come to save lives. Just like Joseph, knowing what they were being prepared for was so much greater than their suffering...if they would only endure.
God was their helper thru all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
This verse isn’t just an extension of the first verse, but it’s a direct assault on the gods of Egypt, and the rest of the world. The gods of Egypt dwelt either above, or underneath the mountains, and they all had an origin story. So again, Moses is establishing that the God of the Hebrews created the mountains.
He didn’t provide those places for the gods, He provided those places for men, though, right? He created all of this for us to marvel at, subdue and conquer. The majority of the earth is on the lower plains. It’s where we are best suited...sometimes though, those mountaintops, we get to visit. They weren’t designed for us to stay there, they were designed for us to look down and see the immense amount of work we need to do below and return with a hope for those who don’t know how to climb and teach them, as the Hebrew people taught their families about God and His love for us.
Identifying God is God and we are not, is essential in our lives. If you’re in this room and struggle with that, I understand how hard it is to serve someone you can’t see. I can tell you, though, He is a good master.
3 You turn man to destruction, And say, “Return, O children of men.” 4 For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night.
How long had it been since creation to the exodus? It had been about 3500 years. We were designed to dwell with the Lord, but because of our sin, we’re driven to destruction. The phrase here is that God is returning us to where we came from, to dust. We were made out of the dust, and when sin entered the world, we would then return to dust, and the years the Lord waits are like nothing to Him.
He’s saying a thousand years are like a watch in the night...4 hours is a watch. What are the people doing that are watching at night? Protecting the camp, but doing what? LOOKING FOR THE DAWN. The Lord knows the dawn is coming...He sees it coming. We don’t see it coming. We need to know in our hearts that the dawn is coming. Either we’re going to endure to our end, Hallelujah, or we’re going to endure to the event’s end, Hallelujah, right?
Endure trials and enter them with a joy and a hope that sees the light of eternity on the other side. Our reward isn’t here on earth, BUT, our legacy is, which leads me to our next 2 verses.
5 You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up: 6 In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers.
God carries the years away like a flood, like a sleep...parents, older folk in the congregation, isn’t that how it is? We blink our eyes and our kids are grown. My oldest is 15. I was hit with a wall a few days ago speaking with him about the fact that we have 3 more years with him before he’s out in the world on his own...I still have so much to teach him.
What are we doing with the years we’ve been given? What are we doing? If you haven’t examined that in a while, take inventory today. We waste so much time each day, so much time that could be used powerfully for something greater. I know, having a family, a business to run, and a church to tend to. I get the tightness of time...but we focus so much on ourselves, we think little of others.
J Vernon McGee said that nobody knew death like Moses did. He said that he presided over more funerals than any man in history. He saw helpless death, he saw triumphant death, but he also witnessed miracles.
Moses understood what Jesus taught, though in John 12:24
24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.
It’s thru struggle and death in our lives that provide for us the harvest. We walk our walk alone. We can’t earn any of our families’ ways to heaven. It’s paved as a single lane sidewalk. Hell is a 8 lane highway. UNTIL we die, our walk is ours alone, between us and God, and the Lord is doing a work in us as long as we will let Him.
It’s only thru a death of our bodies, or a death to our sin that we will start the harvest. Like I mentioned last week, you can count how many seeds are in an apple, but you can’t count how many seeds will come from that apple.
When we die here on earth, that’s when people start learning who we really were. They go thru our finances, our businesses, our phones...our phones...BROTHERS, YOUR PHONES. If you’re steeped in sin, your family will find out. Those who hold you in high esteem will find out your secrets. When are we going to turn from our wicked ways and live?
Our fruit may be decaying. There is only one in all of history that can restore the years the locusts have eaten. He is faithful and just to do so.
7 For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified. 8 You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
It’s the confessed sin of a humble person that the Lord wants. Our secret sin rots us from the inside out. If your phone is full of sin, get a new one and turn from that wicked sin and live. If it’s the hard drive on your computer, replace it. Start fresh and new and NEVER GO BACK.
God is a jealous God. All He asks is one thing, believe that Jesus is My Son, that He died for our sin on the cross of Salvation, and that He arose from the grave on the 3rd day. If we believe that, then we will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord is building a mansion for those who believe, a home just for us.
Hell is for those who don’t believe. That’s what’s unforgivable. It’s a free choice, and God will honor that choice. God’s delight is that we chase after Him. God’s wrath is for those who seek their own pleasures and die in their inequity. Something we need to remember also, our secret sin here on earth is open scandal in heaven.
Now, did you know that this is one of the verses in this passage that point directly to Jesus? We were dead in our sins prior to Jesus, but the term “set our iniquities before you” can also be translated “in the sight of or in the presence of. Our secret sins were delivered to the presence of Jesus. They were heaped before Him, then upon Him. On He who so loved the world. I’m so thankful I’m free of the penalty of my sin...but it only means so much if we’re not willing to make the changes as permanent as we can. He made a way for us, the way we show our thankfulness is by taking up the cross ourselves and following Him.
It’s time we take the steps. In this new year, cast off the old man and put on the new one. Do it now, New year minus 3 days.
9 For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh. 10 The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
Moses lived to 120, but he knew that the average lifespan of man was now 70. He also knew, that after 70, those years would get harder and harder just to be. It would be a testament to the strength of the person to get thru those years.
Think of our grandparents, how easy is their life? It’s filled with pills, stretches, creaks and groans, right? All the unbeliever has is their earthly accomplishments, right? We look at what we have done and marvel...not understanding that we’ve just laid our floor on sand without any type of foundation. Nothing stands the test of time. The only thing that does is what was done for Christ or thru Christ.
12 So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Why does Moses ask for the Lord to teach us to number our days? As children, we think we’ll live forever. Most children don’t know anything of hardship, in this country anyway. Even then, they don’t think about the day they could meet their maker as we do.
There will come a day when death will touch us all. Not our death, but the death of someone close to us. That’s when we will finally face the fleeting time of our 70 or so years on this earth. Some of us don’t live that long.
How will your life be measured? By the years you survived? Or the days we lived? For some of us, those days we live are worth more than any of the years we’ve spent on earth. Atlas McPherson spent 510 days alive with us, and we learned a few days ago that his life, and our witness turned the hearts of at least 2 people to Christ and bolstered the faith of others that work in that Pediatric ICU unit at Monument Hospital.
Those are people who see the cruel reality of death all the time...and 510 days of life shed light into their darkness and gave them a hope of something bigger. I’ve lived 17,152 days, 343 times longer than Atlas. I’ve been following Jesus for almost 6,000 days...over 16 years...that’s 11 times longer than Atlas lived. Did I lead 2 people to Christ in those years? I would hope so. I would hope that my testimony would be more robust than that.
I can tell you, the last 343 days since his death, things have been different to me.
Numbering our days is sobering. It puts into perspective how much time we’ve lost...but it also reminds us that each day has a meaning, a test, a trial, an opportunity to bring joy and hope. It is wise for us to do this.
Our days are numbered. Our last breath is coming, and what should be our cry?
13 Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. 14 Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
The Israelites feel God’s anger and wrath. When you’re corrected time after time after time, you become distant to that leader. It’s our pride that sends us down that path because we don’t want to do what is asked of us. The Israelites have seen God’s anger in Egypt, but His wrath hadn’t come upon them yet. He was calling them back, but that meant they needed to change. Little do they know, if they would just turn from their ways, things would change.
We want to be in God’s graces as many days as we can. It’s comforting to us when we’re in the groove of doing what God wants. Moses doesn’t want the people to miss out on what He has seen from God. Moses lived a lonely life. Most leaders do, they don’t get much support, they are constantly challenged about their decision making, especially if someone else thinks they could do it better.
They heard God call out Moses and Aaron and set them apart, but again, how quickly do we forget. How quickly our pride sets in and destroys the relationship we have with others.
15 Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, The years in which we have seen evil. 16 Let Your work appear to Your servants, And Your glory to their children. 17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.
This word afflicted doesn’t mean He lead us to evil. It means that sometimes the Lord will lead us to a time of suffering, a time in the wilderness, a time of oppression...to teach us the lessons that will make us great. The Lord has big plans for each of us, if we would take the reigns and do what He’s called us to do.
Moses is saying what should be on the cusp of all of our hearts, let us see the work of our hands. That takes sacrifice, doesn’t it? How do we know if we’re in the Lord’s Will? Only if we know His word, and fellowship with those who know His Word.
We aren’t athletes when it comes to God’s Word. We don’t run races, we don’t even sprint. We’re spiritually lazy.
I was listening to Billy Graham and he was talking about this Psalm, and he said that for centuries, the fastest a man could travel was as fast as a horse could run. Then in the early 20th century, the first military aircraft could travel 42 miles per hour. Now we can cross the atlantic or pacific, thousands of miles in a few hours. He said “My father drove a horse and buggy, and we’re trying to run, today, a space race, at the speed of the internet to our pockets with a horse and buggy moral and spiritual condition. Time is collapsing on us, how much longer do we have?”
Then he continued with “Each of us have the same minutes and hours in a day.” We are like a shadow on this earth. A fleeting vapor. There’s no reason to feel bad about that, it’s the way we are designed. How are you going to spend those minutes? How are you going to spend those days? Are you going to live for you? Or for Him?
Let’s change that this year. Make God’s Word a priority. A pastor from Calvary Chapel Springfield, MO went with me to Israel a few years ago. He produced a pretty comprehensive Bible Reading plan. I’ve compiled his lesson and would be happy to provide it to anyone who’d like to use it.
Find a buddy in the church and dig in with them. We need to train ourselves for war, because war is coming. Are you going to be ready? Will your kids be ready? Will your friends be ready? Will they follow you, like the Egyptians did when the Israelites that lived among them left following the Lord? They didn’t know what they were being lead into. They didn’t know the path ahead, they followed, and most of them didn’t like what happened because they were looking for what would serve them, instead of serving the Lord.
Following a reading plan isn’t easy. It consumes so much of our time. Believe me, it does. It feels so unproductive. I can tell you, as you go about your day, you’ll see those lessons lived out. You’ll see the Word come to life, and you’ll feel significant changes in your life as well.
Make today the start of your new year, minus 3 days. Remember last week, 3 days can make huge gains. Change the things that are unhealthy about you. Condition your body, your mind, your thoughts, YOUR MOUTH, to honor God. How can we lead the next generation if we can’t lead ourselves.
