Teach Us to Number our Days

On Sunday we learned from Jesus’ sermon of how futile anxiety is. Jesus’ primary reason was the brevity of life and the length of eternity. Jesus loved the Psalms. As a matter of fact, our next series is called the Songs of Jesus, Psalms Jesus quoted or leaned on in difficult times in his life. I’m so excited to study the songs Jesus sung, the Psalms he prayed.

I wonder if Jesus was leaning on Psalm 90 when he talked about anxiety.

So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

If you read what precedes this famous quote from Psalm 90, you’ll see that numbering our days requires that we see the brevity of life and the eternality of God.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place 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. You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass this is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.

Psalm 90:1-6

God has always been. And will always be. He is eternally past and eternally present. (Think on that for more than two minutes and you’ll need another cup of coffee.) Compared to eternity, our earthly life is a leaf carried along in the flooding waters, a dream that comes and goes with a night’s sleep, a blade of grass that fades by evening.

Second, if we are to number our days we must remember our sinfulness and God’s holiness.

For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

psalm 90:7-8

God is holy. Without him we are not. As we discovered Sunday, God solved our greatest problem (the one with eternal implications). Every other problem pales in comparison to our sin problem. Our nagging aches and pains have never hurt us like our guilty conscience has.

God sees us as no one else does and loves us like no one else will.

Third, we must remember our frailty and God’s faithfulness, our weakness and his strength.

For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. 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. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?

Psalm 90:9-11

We toil and trouble. The sin of Adam is your sin and mine. Work is hard. Parenting is hard. Our bodies and minds feel the pain and the weight of sinners living life in a sin-soaked world. Yet, because of the power of God’s answer was poured out on his Son on the cross, the rest of Psalm 90 is our every day reality. Let this sink in.

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. 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!

Psalm 90:12-17

Because Jesus came and fully became one of us, minus the sin, we can be fully satisfied in this life because God is fully satisfied with us. That should calm our nerves, lessen our fears. The favor our Lord can also be interpreted the beauty of our Lord. I pray that today you will see the beauty of the Lord more than the anxiety of the world. And in so doing, this day will be numbered as one where God again made you glad.