Times of crisis are often one of God’s means of getting our attention. What is God trying to say to us in our day? At the beginning of the second world war, C. S. Lewis preached at St. Mary’s in Oxford, England, speaking to the challenges that the people of England were facing. What he said then challenges us to look beyond this earthly life for true meaning. Here in a capsule form is what he said:
War does do something to death. It forces us to remember it. The only reason why the cancer at 60 or the paralysis at 75 do not bother us as a collective society is that we forget them. War makes death real to us: and that would have been regarded as one of its blessings by most of the Christians of the past. Why, you might say? They thought it good for us to be always aware of our mortality. I am inclined to think they are right. All the animal life in us, all schemes of happiness that centered in this world, were always doomed to a final frustration. In ordinary times only a wise person realizes this.
But in times of war even the dullest of us can begin to understand the reality of death. We see unmistakably the sort of universe in which we have all along been living, and must come to terms with it. If we had foolish un-Christian hopes about human culture, they are now shattered. If we thought we were building up a heaven on earth, if we looked for something that would turn the present world from a place of pilgrimage into a permanent city satisfying the soul of man, we are disillusioned, and not a moment too soon.[i]
One of our great challenges in an affluent world is that we live as if this is it. We try and make this life our permanent life and try to quench the yearning in our souls for the next life. Christian psychologist, Lawrence Crabb Jr., in his book, Change from the Inside Out explains.
There is a yearning, a longing in our souls that never can be met in this life. We were designed for eternity, and until we are in the presence of God, it will not go away. Yet we try and fill this longing by filling our lives to capacity with earthly activity.[ii]
Henri Nouwen explains the challenges that business presents us with:
One of the most obvious characteristics of our daily lives is that we are busy. We experience our days as filled with things to do, people to meet, projects to finish, letters to write, calls to make and appointments to keep. Our lives often seem like overpacked suitcases bursting at the seams. In fact, we are almost always aware of being behind schedule. There is a nagging sense that there are unfinished tasks, unfulfilled promises, unrealized proposals… …although we are busy, we also have a lingering feeling of never fulfilling our obligations.[iii]
When you think of the word stewardship, what immediately pops into your mind? Money! But the greatest unit of currency that we have is not money but time. Charles Spezzano writes in What to Do Between Birth and Death:
You don’t really pay for things in money, but in time.[iv]
Money is determined by your investment in some venture or work that took time. Psalm 90 is a prayer for wisdom in how we ought to live, how we should spend the most important commodity of our lives, our time. There are things we need to consider in order to really experience life to the fullest as God intended it to be. Unfortunately for most of us, we lack wisdom. Here in this psalm we discover a plea for wisdom in knowing how we ought to live.
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.[v]
The need for human beings is for a mind wise enough to sort out the days, with their events, responsibilities, and opportunities, so that they can cope with the transience [temporariness] and evil of human life. This wisdom lies beyond the power of humanity. It is the gift of God, a power of discernment which is not the result of human endeavor but must be taught by God.[vi]
What is he saying? Simply, as we see how short, fleeting and sinful human life really is, we need God’s help in knowing how to really live. What we believe about life will shape our priorities and our values. What we believe about life will affect how we spend our lives. There are three things here in Psalm 90 that challenge us to consider how we are living our lives.
THE FIRST THING WE NEED TO CONSIDER REGARDING LIFE IS THAT IT’S BRIEF (vs 1-6)
None of us ever feels we have enough time. When we consider how quickly life goes by, we often try to cram everything we can into our lives. We don’t want to miss anything. Yet often in trying to do too much we actually miss savoring the gift God has given to each of us. We are guilty of what one songwriter says: we are too busy to smell the roses. We get caught up in the frenzied activities that keep us from truly enjoying the gift God has given us, namely life.
One of the problems with our present philosophy of life is that we can do whatever we want to do, that there are no limits, and we forget our humanity and our limitations. We try and do everything and often miss the one thing we ought to do. Henry Thoreau states this so pointedly.
One is not born into the world to do everything, but to do something.[vii]
And that something can only be discovered by knowing the heart and mind of our designer. In other words, we need to know what God has in mind for our lives. We need to discover His will and purpose for us.
We only have a limited earthly life span. Most biblical scholars attribute this psalm to Moses. Moses begins his prayer with a comparison between man and God. In the one corner we have The everlasting God in relationship to man, who is seen as created from the earth. Our earthly lives are temporal. They soon are over.
Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You turn people back to dust, saying, ‘Return to dust, you mortals.’
A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. You sweep people away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning:
In the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.[viii]
The picture of how quickly life passes is described as ‘grass in a dry climate, which flourishes in the coolness of the early morning dew only to wither and shrivel under the heat of the day.”[ix]
THE SECOND THING WE NEED TO CONSIDER REGARDING LIFE IS THAT APART FROM GOD IT IS BARREN (vs. 7-11)
A life without God is empty. We see that emptiness, and discontentedness all around us. People are busy trying to find meaning and some satisfaction in life, but it seems to elude them. It always seems just beyond reach. For many they just can’t seem to find it.
Why are so many troubled, distressed, depressed? Where does this internal pain and dissatisfaction come from? We can’t seem to put our finger on the trouble. A life lived out of harmony with the Creator and Savior means a deep emptiness in the soul. We can’t experience fulness apart from God. We weren’t designed that way.
1. Much of our anxiety and fear comes from the subconscious realization that we are in rebellion toward God and there is a sense of accountability to Him.
We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.[x]
Remember, who wrote the Psalm? Moses observed God’s dealings with the children of Israel. As they sinned, God dealt with them. Let’s look at two examples of God’s anger toward sin and the terrible consequence.
A. The first happened at a place called Taberah.
Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.
When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down.
So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the LORD had burned among them.[xi]
What had they done? Complained about their hardships. Who should we complain to regarding the difficulties in life? The psalms are filled with complaints to God, but when we complain about to others, it is an indictment against God’s care for us.
B. The second example is found in Numbers 21:4-9
They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!’
Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.
The people came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people.
The LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’
So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.[xii]
But you might argue that these are examples from the Old Testament. What does that have to do with us today? These are examples warning us about our similar, sinful ways which are seen as expressions of rebellion against God. I’m sure they didn’t think their behavior was sinful or rebellious. They probably felt justified in what they were complaining about. Times were difficult. But God saw it for what it was: a lack of trust in Him. A lack of appreciation. An expression of rebellion.
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.
We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.
And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.[xiii]
What were some of the things that they grumbled about? The food, the lack of water, the direction, the leadership, the hardships. God took it personally. They had lost sight of that wonderful truth, that God was their dwelling place. God was their shelter. God was their provider and deliverer.
God had led them into the wilderness to prove them, to test them in order to see if they would be faithful, if they would trust him.
God has not changed. He’s still the same. Just like He, the Holy Spirit led the Israelites into the wilderness to worship, so He led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested. The Holy Spirit leads us into the wilderness of life to be tested. How will we respond? Will we trust God’s promises, or will we chafe and complain under the challenges that are before us? How often, like Adam, when we fail, we run away from God and try to hide?
2. Sin causes us to live in shame and concealment.
We spend incredible amounts of energy trying to hide our inadequacies and sinful tendencies from one another. Samuel Johnson one of the puritan theologians from another time once wrote:
Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess.[xiv]
Contemporary Christian psychologist John Trent calls it, ‘image management.’ We pretend to be someone we are not. We want to be better, but we are all fellow strugglers. We need God’s empowering help. But God sees us as we really are.
You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.
Our days come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
If only we knew the power of your anger! For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.[xv]
What is wisdom saying to us? That life is short, and we need to live it in the ‘fear of God.’ Unfortunately, most people just ignore God and will ultimately suffer significant consequences.
Both the power of God’s wrath and the quality of reverence due him elude the ‘knowing’ of human beings.[xvi]
A life lived apart from God is a life of struggle and sorrow. A life of emptiness and barrenness. Yet we read on that God did not intend for us to live like that. He had something else in mind. As we come to the closing part of Moses’ prayer, we discover that in our repentance and cry to God we discover what God really intended for us.
THE THIRD THING WE NEED TO CONSIDER REGARDING LIFE IS THAT THERE CAN BE BLESSINGS (vs. 12-17)
Life can be beautiful. It depends on our desires and attitudes. Biblical wisdom challenges us to have a correct attitude toward our creator. We must learn to look to God in order to number our days correctly. We must cry out to Him for help, to return to Him, and have Him turn with favor toward us. Real meaning, purpose and significance comes from knowing God and doing His will.
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.[xvii]
Notice the prayer of repentance and acknowledgment of God.
Relent, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.
May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.[xviii]
God does want to bring joy and gladness into our hearts. He wants to restore the years that the destructive locusts have brought into our lives. God is in the restoration business. One thing we can be assured of when we serve God is that our lives have significance and meaning. We touch people, and in that way have eternal significance.
One of my desires will be when I get to heaven is to visit with my pastor, who died at a young age. He was 59 years old. Yet his work lives on in the lives of the people he touched. His life impacted me and therefore, in turn, is now impacting those I touch.
Augustine once preached a sermon in which he proposed a kind of self-test to see if we truly love God.
Suppose God proposed to you a deal and said, ‘I will give you anything you want. You can possess the whole world. Nothing will be impossible for you… Nothing will be a sin, nothing will be forbidden. You will never die, never have pain, never have anything you don’t want and always have anything you do want – except for just one thing: you will never see my face.’
Augustine closed with a question: Did a chill rise in your hearts, when you heard the words, ‘you will never see my face?’ That chill is the most precious thing in you; that is the pure love of God.[xix]
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[i] C. S. Lewis, “Learning in War-Time,” from a sermon preached in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, 1939. Paraphrased.
[ii] Larry Crabb, Inside Out, (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1988), 14 paraphrased.
[iii] Henri Nouwen, as quoted by Ron Rolheiser, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, “Western Catholic Reporter”, 2005.
[iv] Charles Spezzano “What to Do Between Birth and Death”, as quoted by John Maxwell, “Using Time or Abusing Time?” Vol 9, Num 6, 2.
[v] Palm 90:12, The New International Version of the Bible, Zondervan, 2011.
[vi] Marvin E. Tate, Psalms 51-100, Word Biblical Commentary, (Dallas, Tx: Word Books, Publishers, 1990), 442.
[vii] Henry Thoreau, as quoted by John Maxwell, Using and Abusing Time?
[viii] Psalm 90:1-6.
[ix] Marvin E. Tate, Psalms 51-100, 441.
[x] Psalm 90:7.
[xi] Numbers 11:1-3.
[xii] Numbers 21:4-9.
[xiii] 1 Corinthians 10:6-11.
[xiv] Samuel Johnson as quoted by John Maxwell, “Using Time or Abusing Time?” Vol 9, Num 6.
[xv] Psalm 90:8-11.
[xvi] Tate, Psalm 51-100, 443.
[xvii] Psalm 90:12.
[xviii] Psalm 90:13-17.
[xix] Joanna Weaver, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, (Colorado Springs, Co: Waterbrook Press, 2000), 172 as quoted from Peter Kreeft, Three Philosophies of Life, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989), 94-95.
