Teach Us to Number Our Days
Psalms • Sermon • Submitted
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· 91 viewsGod is the eternal author and finisher of life who graciously gives mercy to those who ask.
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A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
7 For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10 The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
Let’s pray.
If the Lord gives me 80 years of life on earth, then I would have a little over 50 years left to live. Or if it pleased God to give me 70 years, then I will only have 40 years left in this life. But even those years are not guaranteed, for God could take very well take me home today if that is his will.
The Psalmist said,
Psalm 90:10 (ESV)
10 The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Now, it’s not like counting to eighty is a difficult thing to do. Man is able to count the distance between the moon and the earth. So why does the Lord need to teach us to number our days?
Well, even though we know that we will one day die, we seem to enjoy living in ignorance of this reality. This is demonstrated by the way we waste our time pursuing meaningless activities. But when a person is diagnosed with a terminal disease they will quickly recognize how much of their life was wasted.
So consider how many years you have left in your life if you were to live to see 80 years. We must recognize that our time is limited. There is no guarantee that we will live to see next year let alone tomorrow.
Every Wednesday before I preach, Tait sticks his head in my office and says, “Preach like a dying man to dying people.” Tait only been doing this for a year now, and yet I doubt that I will ever forget what he has taught me. So today I am apply this saying just as well. Today I am preaching like a dying man to dying people. From this I consider a few things.
This can very well be my last sermon that I will ever preach, because I am a dying man.
And not not only am I a dying man, but you all are dying people. Yes even when I am preaching to our youth, I am preaching to dying people. Every sermon that we hear may well be the last time one of us gets to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can’t always assume that there will be next year let alone tomorrow.
So I ought to preach, and I intend to preach as if this were the last time we would hear get the gospel before we die.
Because of our impending death, we cannot afford to think that there is always tomorrow. We cannot afford to put off weighty and eternal matters like God’s judgment against sinners. We cannot neglect speaking of God’s mercy towards those who repent. We must not shrink back from pointing people to the very fountain of living water, who is Jesus Christ.
So we must ask Lord teach us to number our days. So let’s learn from the Lord through his servant Moses so that we might gain a heart of wisdom.
The Title of the Psalm reads,
“A Prayer of Moses the Man of God”
This is the only Psalm is the ascribed to Moses, and as such, Psalm 90 is the one of the oldest, if not the oldest psalm in the psalter. Moses likely wrote this when he and the rest of the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness. One of the recurring themes of those forty years in the wilderness was death.
Consider this; A conservative estimate of the people who were delivered from Egypt is around two million people. Others think it could have been upward towards three million. So think the population of the greater Portland area. Now recall what happened when the the children of Israel disobeyed God because of the report of the ten spies who entered into the promised land;
Numbers 14:28–30 (ESV)
28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell,
Imagine what it would look like for well over two million people to die over the course of forty years. As Israel wandered through the wilderness, they would have left a trail of graves behind them. And for forty years, the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness without a home until an entire generation died.
With this in mind, Moses writes,
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Notice the fourfold progress of this chiasm,
the Lord has been a dwelling place to his people in ALL generations
BEFORE the mountains were brought forth
OR EVER you had formed the earth and the world,
FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING you are God.
This is what I want us to recognize,
1. God is the eternal author of life.
1. God is the eternal author of life.
Consider what Moses is reflecting upon when he prays, “Lord you have been our dwelling place.”
He is saying that the eternal God who is the creator of everything is a home and refuge to him and the rest of Israel. Sure they are wandering in the wilderness - But they dwell under the shadow of the Almighty. This has been the case for all generations. The Lord has been the dwelling place of Abraham when he left his home. The Lord was a home and refuge to Isaac and Jacob and his twelve sons when they fled for Egypt. And for all the generations that passed in Egypt under affliction, God was shelter.
But consider what this means for this generation as they wandered through the wilderness. They did not dwell in cities with walls and houses with firm foundations. This psalm wasn’t written by David after his built his city on the Mount Zion. This was written by Moses, the man who left the riches and security of Egypt to live in and among tents and wanderers in the presence of God. And while the Israel groaned and longed for a home, Moses mused these words,
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Moses reflects upon the most permanent things that we can think of in this world… the mountains. And the word translated to “brought forth” is the word used to describe fathering or bearing a child.
These immovable, stone giants have God as their parent. So while men desire to dwell in the oldest and most secure places in the world atop these strong mountains, Moses recounts that the mountains maker is in fact his dwelling place. Wandering in the wilderness isn’t that bad when you recognize that you dwell with God.
You see, God isn’t just Moses’ dwelling place. But God is ours dwelling place as well. For the Lord is the dwelling place of all his people in all generations.
Today, on this Independence Day, we recognize the 245 years of freedom in this America. And while I am so glad to live in America, this is not my home. God is our dwelling place… and he alone is the only secure dwelling place in all the earth.
Do you remember Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of his greatness as a ruler over Babylon? Recall what happens as a great rock destroyed that grate statue. Daniel interprets the dream as such,
44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, 45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”
Thought mountains may look like a strong dwelling place for kings, God and his kingdom alone is the only secure dwelling place for his people.
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Luther said it well when when he said “His kingdom is forever” But the same cannot be said for mankind and his kingdom. While this Psalm is about the eternality of God on one hand, it holds in the other the frailness of our life.
2. This life is quickly passing away.
2. This life is quickly passing away.
You see, Moses was far from seeing full establishment of God’s eternal kingdom. And we haven’t seen it come to pass fully either. This is why we pray, “let your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” If anything, the kingdoms that we see here and now are anything besides and everlasting.
Listen to the way Moses wrote about the passing nature of this life;
3 You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
God is eternal. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is the everlasting and uncreated God who cannot be destroyed. While God is everlasting, we are far from that. For every one of us was born, and every one of us will die.
Moses is reflecting on the pattern of life and death that he has become all together familiar with. Lord, you return man to dust, and says, “return, O children of man!”
The fact that the Lord returns us to dust should remind us that we came from the dust of the ground. This is an obvious nod to God’s words to Adam during the fall,
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
Even though the word dust is the same in both in Gen 3 and Ps 90 in our English translations, they are actually different words in the Hebrew. So in Psalm 90 when it says
3 You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
The word dust here means “to crush and humble”
3 Thou turnest man to destruction;
And sayest, Return, ye children of men.
Imagine taking a sludge-hammer to a brick until it no longer has its form, but instead it is broken down to dust. This is the right image of what Moses is conveying here.
So to understand the image that Moses is evoking, we might say that God will humble and break man down until he is nothing but dust.
And make no mistake, God is the cause of death.
Moses continues;
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
The eternality of God is compared to man’s short and fleeting life. One thousand years is a very long time in the sight of man. How many kingdoms rise and fall, or how many kings come and go in the span of one thousand years? We can hardly fathom what one thousand years is like. But to the everlasting God, one thousand years is as if it were just yesterday, or even more accurate, it’s like just a few passing hours in the night that we sleep through.
The strength and pride of man is like nothing when compared to our Everlasting God. Moses continues,
5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
We can be slow to understand the brevity of our life, especially when we are in our youthful years. So to help us understand, Moses pounds this principle into our heads with three back to back illustrations.
V 5, you sweep them away as with a flood…
This illustration requires little imagination and just a basic understanding of the Bible. Recall the flood that God caused in Noah’s day when God swept away every person except Noah and his family.
Jesus describes the event of the flood when he said,
38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
So too, men have continued to be ignorant of their death, and the coming judgment that they will face after they draw their last breath. Do not live in ignorance of God’s coming judgment, but instead recognize that life is short, and God’s judgment is swift.
Let’s consider the second illustration that Moses provides.
5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
Moses says that our life is like a dream…
Okay, life isn’t literally a dream… this isn’t the Matrix
But, our lives are like a dream.
It’s difficult for me to recall most of my dreams. And so it will be of this life in the light of eternity. In comparison to the eternity that will be spent after this life either with God or separated from him in hell, we will hardly remember all the joys or the troubles of this life, for they will only be like a dream after we die.
But I do remember my dreams every now and then. One of my most repeated dreams is more of a nightmare. In those bad dreams I will be preaching, but when get into the pulpit and have absolutely nothing to say. To my relief, I will wake up and it’ll only be Monday. Waking up from these kinds of dreams is sweet relief!
So too, when this life is over, all of our experiences in life, whether good or bad, will have as much substance as a dream.
And the final illustration is to compare this life to that of grass.
“like grass that is renewed in the morning: 6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.”
Even with the power of modern sprinkler systems, we can still appreciate this illustration after the heat we had last week. For the grass was green one day, and the next day all the grass died. So too, we enjoy our youth one day, and the next thing we know, we are nearing the end of our life.
Consider the swiftness of the flood, the fleeting nature of a dream, or the fading of the grass, and know that your life is short and fleeting, and you will soon die.
Not at this point in hearing this text expounded, some might be provoked and irritated. When the natural man hears about the everlasting author of life bringing an end to their life, well we tend to not like this. And so we might harden our hearts against God. Many have rejected the one true God because they are offended by him.
But Paul reminds us,
33 as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
If you are hardened by the wrath of God, then stop and ask God for faith wisdom so that you might believe in him. If you would like to accuse God of being cruel and unjust, then slow your tongue and instead learn from what Moses has seen.
Moses tells us the cause our death.
7 For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
Notice, that in v 7 and v 9, Moses speaks of the anger and the wrath of God. Hear this, God’s anger and wrath is not at all like an 8 year old boy killing ants with a magnifying glass and fireworks. God’s wrath against us is not without a just cause. Look to the center of these verses about God’s wrath, and we will discover the object of God’s wrath.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
The wages of sin is death. And there is no such thing as a secret sin in the sight of God. Any attempt to hide our sins from God is no more effective than when Adam and Eve hid in the trees.
We must recognize this: when God crushes us into dust, it is not owing to any cruelty that is found in him. Rather when we return to the dust, it is owing to our countless sins against him. So we must not neglect speaking of the just wrath of God against sinners.
The the subject of death is unpopular today. But the subject of God’s wrath is even less popular than the subject of death. We must speak about the wrath of God against sinners.
If all we know about is God’s love, but we never understand God’s wrath, then we will never be able to understand why people die.
If we don’t understand God’s wrath against sinners, then we will never learn to number our days.
If we don’t understand that our sin leads to our death, then we will never mourn, fight, and kill our sinful passions.
If we don’t understand God’s wrath against our sin, then we will never recognize our desperate need for the gospel.
If we know nothing of the wrath of God, then we will not call upon God for mercy and Grace.
If we only know God to be a God of love but not also a God of wrath, then we will never see the great need pray for and evangelize to a lost and dying world.
If we never consider the unchanging attribute of God’s wrath, then we will never ever be able to understand why our salvation required Jesus’ death on the cross.
Unfortunately, some will go on ignoring the just wrath of God against their sins. In doing this, they will not number their days, but instead they will pursue their best life now. But listen to Moses’ words and try to understand the futility of this life apart from the Lord.
10 The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Some of you might hear seventy to eighty years and think you’ll take what you can get. But Moses reflect upon Genesis 3 again and says that the years of our life are filled with toil and trouble.
I remember being in middle school and looking forward to high school thinking that things would get easier by then…
And I can remember being in high school and thinking to myself “well college will get easier.”
And when I was in college I thought “By the time I get a job and get married, I will have finally made it.”
Do you know what I think today? I think the years in middle school were fantastic!
Here’s the deal, the span of this life, from beginning to end, is but toil and trouble. And not only that, but even a full life of eighty years really isn’t that full, for those years will soon be gone.
Moses continues,
11 Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
No living person on this earth can fully understand the power of God’s anger. The regenerate person, though he fears the Lord, only has a small understanding of the power of God’s wrath. You see, not only is God infinite in time, but his is also infinite in power. And none of us can bear to consider what it will be like to face the infinite power of God’s anger.
The Scriptures speak about it like this.
41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
While both of these passages are poetic they are certainly not an exaggeration. A fire furnace with weeping and gnashing of teeth… a lake of fire and sulfur where there is eternal and restless torment…
While I can hardly fathom what this means, I still shudder to think of it. And all I can do is weep for anyone who will face the power and anger of God for all eternity.
11 Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
While there is no one here who can possibly consider the power of God’s anger, there is one person who felt the full and infinite weight of God’s anger. It was there on the cross of Calvary that the full wrath of God was poured out upon the Lord Jesus Christ. While our sins cannot be hidden from God, there is a way to be cleansed of our sins so that we can escape the Lord’s wrath.
It’s no wonder Moses prayed;
12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Oh that the Lord would teach us to number our days, so that we may get a heart of wisdom. For if we can recognize the brevity of this life, in the light of the eternal wrath of God we will never be satisfied with anything in this world.
But it’s in this state of brokenness that the goodness of the gospel breaks through.
3. Though there are great troubles in this life, there is a greater joy to be had for those who find refuge in God.
3. Though there are great troubles in this life, there is a greater joy to be had for those who find refuge in God.
Why do we need to number our days? We must number our days so that we may get a heart of wisdom. And upon receiving this wisdom, then and only then, can we even consider the power of God’s anger. And when we recognize that there is nothing that can save or save us from the wrath of God, we will run to God for refuge.
This is exactly what Moses does final verses of Psalm 90.
13 Return, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
Listen to Moses cry to the Lord. Return, O Lord! How long?
This isn’t a cry of a man who is enjoying his time in the wilderness… this the plea of one who loves what this life or the world has to offer. This is the cry of a man who is desperate. He cannot stand to face the wrath of God any longer.
For just as God’s wrath return man to the dust, so too does Moses implore on the basis of God’s mercy that he would return to him and his people!
“Have pity on your servants!” Moses cried…
The plea for pity from a servant to his master is quite bold. But how much much bolder requests can we be to make now that God has made us his friends and children!
So go to God and ask him for pity, for he is sure give mercy and grace to all who ask for it.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Hear this plea, and make it your own! Pray for satisfaction, rejoicing, and gladness throughout all the days that you live!
You can picture God pouring out his blessing on the nation of Israel each morning by providing them with manna to eat so that they would be satisfied. But how much more satisfying is it to be a recipient of the steadfast love of God? If you are satisfied with the steadfast love of God, then your troubles will not rob you of your joy. Take it from Paul even as he instructs the Philippians to be of the same mind as him.
17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
Yes, this life if fleeting and full of troubles. But that doesn’t mean this life is without joy. So we must consider, how can we have such joy in a world so full of troubles? Well let’s return to Psalm 90 and look for some clues.
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
There are three hints I can see in this verse that can lead us to a true and lasting joy in a life full of troubles.
First recognize the source of true satisfaction, rejoicing, and gladness. Such a joy only comes from God. And since joy comes from God, we must pray the way Moses did. Make this your prayer, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love.”
Second, when Moses seeks this satisfaction from God, note that Moses desires this satisfaction in the morning. “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love.” Do you want true and lasting joy in Christ? They wake up in the morning and ask God for satisfaction. Don’t put this off to the end of your day only after you have faced all your troubles. But instead, wake up and ask God to satisfy you in the morning with his steadfast love. Our days are not only full of troubles, but our days are full of all kinds of cheap substitutes for true and lasting satisfaction. So seek the Lord in the morning before you are distracted by lesser pleasures. Do not be content to move on in your day until you are satisfied with the steadfast love of God through in the morning. So be persistent in prayer.
Satisfaction from God through prayer…
Satisfaction from God must be sought in the morning if we wish to be rejoice through a day of trouble.
And then he says, “that we may rejoice and be glad all our days… Start today. Life is too short to put off receiving everlasting joy simply because we do not make time for it. Make it happen today, and not only today, but seek satisfaction from the steadfast love of the Lord every day.
Listen to Moses one last time.
Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
Moses saw the work and power of God displayed throughout his life. But Moses wants to see more. Moses likely longed to see the work of God continue as he delivered the next generation into the promised land. God would reveal this to Moses just before he died, and God continued to display his glorious power to the next generation of Israel. In inheriting the Canaan, the works of Moses and the rest of the the generation in the wilderness would have been established.
While we may not be seeking to enter into Canaan, we do seek a land that has been promised to us. For we are only passing pilgrims in this life on our way to God’s eternal kingdom. So how can we get a glimpse of God’s work and his glorious power of what is to come?
After we have prayed for God’s help and satisfaction, we must go to his Word. This is the sweetest and most sure way to enjoy the works of God’s hand in this life. Mine the Word Every morning after you pray for satisfaction. Your joy is depending on it.
Furthermore, we can enjoy the work and power of God through the testimony of believers. Teach your children to love and obey God. Enjoy the evidences of grace that demonstrate God’s favor in your life and the life of his people.
But don’t just enjoy what has happened, but continue on working for the Lord that he might establish all the works of your hand. What I mean, is do something with your life that is of eternal value.
Remember, you are dying in this world, and all the riches that you store up in this life cannot be taken with you beyond this life.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Do want the Lord to establish the work of your hands? Then lay up treasures in heaven. For this world and all its treasures are quickly fading away.
Paul said the same thing in 1 Cor.
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Not all our works will endure forever. So do not build with cheap materials, like money, vocational ambition, and leisure. Instead build with precious materials that will last forever.
Friends, life is short. May the Lord teach us to number our days so that we can get a heart of wisdom. And may he establish the work of our hands
CT Studd sums it up well.
One life to live to live till soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.
Let’s pray.