12.27.2009 Psalm 90 - How to Live Wisely

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I hope you had a merry Christmas. I was talking to a couple here – and one of there friends had some significant struggles over the Christmas holiday – and I realize that not all of us had a merry Christmas – and if that is the case with you – feel free to come and talk to me or any of us here – if you have any prayer requests or needs.

How to live wisely in 2010.
In January, many of the churches in the Chapel Association will be doing Galatians – and we’ll be starting that later in January. Today, I’ll be looking at Psalm 90 – one of the wisdom books of the Old Testament. Wisdom – a skill for living in a way that pleases God.

Psalm 90 is an introduction to morning services on the Sabbath.

Ps. 90:1 (A Prayer of Moses the man of God.) Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born, Or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. 3 Thou dost turn man back into dust, And dost say, "Return, O children of men." 4 For a thousand years in Thy sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or [as] a watch in the night. 5 Thou hast swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew. 6 In the morning it flourishes, and sprouts anew; Toward evening it fades, and withers away. 7 For we have been consumed by Thine anger, And by Thy wrath we have been dismayed. 8 Thou hast placed our iniquities before Thee, Our secret [sins] in the light of Thy presence. 9 For all our days have declined in Thy fury; We have finished our years like a sigh. 10 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is [but] labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away. 11 Who understands the power of Thine anger, And Thy fury, according to the fear that is due Thee? 12 So teach us to number our days, That we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom. 13 Do return, O Lord; how long [will it be]? And be sorry for Thy servants. 14 O satisfy us in the morning with Thy lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad according to the days Thou hast afflicted us, [And] the years we have seen evil. 16 Let Thy work appear to Thy servants, And Thy majesty to their children. 17 And let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And do confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

12 – teach us to number our days – that we might have a heart of wisdom.

That we may learn to live a skillful life that is pleasing to God – we must learn to count, or number, our days. This year, you have 365 days to live. If you are going to live life with skill and wisdom, you’ll have to understand there is only so much time.

Cindy was working with a group of third graders – and she gave them calculators (they don’t normally use them) – and she was trying to show them how to calculate the number of seconds they have been alive. After they calculated it – she told them how many seconds SHE had been alive (and I won’t give the number!) and one of the clever kids – a few seconds later, said, Mrs. Marette – do you realize that makes you xx years old?! (And I won’t say how old! = xx) Cindy said xx=25.

That is what this is saying – our days are numbered. We don’t know what this coming year will bring. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. It may be blessings and joy or it may be great difficulty. We don’t know what will happen with the economy – and they don’t know.

But what we can do – to understand that our time is limited and control our choices and decisions. In order to do that, you need to understand how short life is and how quickly it goes by.

90:1 (A Prayer of Moses the man of God.) Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born, Or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.

We need to recognize that there is a God. This seems elementary, since we are in a church! How many of you grew up in a church that said a creed? How do they all start? We believe in one God, the creator of heaven and earth – all that is seen and unseen.

If we are to live wisely, we must first understand that there is a God and He is our creator. He is transcendent, infinite, eternal – outside of creation – completely other. All those things that have been created were created by Him.
He needs nothing. He is separate from Creation. Why is that important? He stands outside of time and creation – He is self-existent. If there is a God who is not tied to all of this, then we, as creatures, will give an account to that God.

What that means – His rules count. We may not like His rules, but they matter and they are the ones everyone must play by and under.

2 Cor. 5:9 Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

We tend to push this aside and don’t want to think about that. As Christians, we realize His punishment is forgiven – but we will stand before God and give an account – there will be a judgment and we need to live life aware that we will give an account for our lives.

Back to Psalm 90 – He gives metaphors of this:
3 Thou dost turn man back into dust, And dost say, "Return, O children of men." 4 For a thousand years in Thy sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or [as] a watch in the night. 5 Thou hast swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew. 6 In the morning it flourishes, and sprouts anew; Toward evening it fades, and withers away.
First He calls it dust – showing how fragile we are. To live skillfully, we need to understand that our lives are fragile and could come to an end like ‘that’. It is good to understand that and live life in light of that understanding. It is not morbid – you could get that way – but it is possible that I don’t make it through the year – so how do I live? Believing that – it is possible – how do I live? A thousand years is like a day – it is a watch in the night. There were 3 night watches – each about 3 hours long. It is like, BOOM – a short time –
Like a flood, it is swept away.

Back to Psalm 90 – like a dream – you’re dreaming and then the alarm goes off – and puff! It is gone.
Or like grass.

100 Years – 5 for fighting
I’m 45 for a moment
The sea is high
And I’m heading into a crisis
Chasing the years of my life.

Half time goes by
Suddenly you’re wise
Another blink of an eye 67 is gone
The sun is getting high
We’re moving on…
I’m 99 for a moment
Dying for just another moment
They say time flies, and that is because it does.
You have your kids – and old people tell you – enjoy your kids – and you’re 27 or 28 and you think, yeah, right, old person. You know why they said that? Because it is true – it just goes. If we are to live life skillfully –we need to understand that time just moves along.

7 For we have been consumed by Thine anger, And by Thy wrath we have been dismayed. 8 Thou hast placed our iniquities before Thee, Our secret [sins] in the light of Thy presence. 9 For all our days have declined in Thy fury; We have finished our years like a sigh. 10 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is [but] labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away. 11 Who understands the power of Thine anger, And Thy fury, according to the fear that is due Thee?

He does a switch here. He begins to acknowledge his own sinfulness. To live with skill and wisdom, we must understand out true condition. I think it is critical to acknowledge our true condition as fallen sinners. We live in a world of positive – having a good self-image – but to acknowledge, confront, and commit yourself to change in the coming year. You don’t change until you do this. If we push it under the rug, it doesn’t go away – we all struggle with many things. Now, as Christians, you are forgiven. As believers in Christ, you are 100% forgiven for all you have done and all you will do – so that is not an issue. But that doesn’t mean we don’t acknowledge, confront, forsake and commit!

12 So teach us to number our days, That we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom.

365. That is all. If you make it all the way. In light of how short time is, we need to make each day matter – Jesus said, each day has enough trouble of its own – so focus on the day – make today matter and count. One of the primary – The Florida coach resigned due to some health issues – actually, it consumed his life and he needed to get back to what really mattered in life. Stress and anxiety tend to kill us the most. If we focus on what we have control of, it will make a big difference. We can worry worry worry – but we need to make wise choices so that tomorrow takes care of itself. If you focus today on making right choices – you will be set up to do the same tomorrow.

13 Do return, O Lord; how long [will it be]? And be sorry for Thy servants. 14 O satisfy us in the morning with Thy lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

It seems like the difficulties go on and on – it is odd – we see here – in order to live life with wisdom and skill, we need to see our need for the mercy of God. Do you cry for God’s mercy? When things go wrong, our tendency is to ask WHY? – they did not do that in the Bible – they asked, How LONG? That was their concern. Yeah, suffering is a reality, but how long must it continue?

Our skill and energy, intelligence, resources, etc. cannot make it. We need God’s grace and mercy. God doesn’t give grace for tomorrow’s problems today.
He talks about the morning – I think that means – a new beginning. The morning you start fresh – you can’t go back but you can start today and make decisions and choices and new relationship with God today. That is what matters. A thousand years is as a day – yesterday, today, tomorrow – those are irrelevant – we don’t know how to live in the moment in the presence of God. You are who you are in this moment – it is not what you’ve done or are going to do –

15 Make us glad according to the days Thou hast afflicted us, [And] the years we have seen evil. 16 Let Thy work appear to Thy servants, And Thy majesty to their children. 17 And let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And do confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

He closes the psalm with insight for living – looking to two things – work, and hope.
This speaks to a future. We live today so that there is hope in the future. The more we live and make choices today to live in a way that is pleasing to God – to that extent – we can have hope in the future. That is what gives us hope. He talks about work – that is what we are here for. Life, in this time, is about work. It is working our jobs and working our in our families. 6 to work, 1 to rest and worship Him. Throughout life – that is how it is. It is not always career work, but doing the things that God has called us to. As we work, that gives hope for the future. So as we number our days – there is just so much time. We make it count by working. What must I do today? To live a life like that is freeing. It relieves some of the stress and pressure – and allows you to make better choices and to live more skillfully.

We recognize our lives are short and someday we will stand before You and give an account. Help us to start today, living a way that is pleasing to You. Lord, that we may count the days of our lives and present to You a heart of wisdom. Amen.