The Wise Remember Death
Psalm 90
Main Idea: The Lord graciously teaches us to number our days, so that we gain a heart of wisdom.
I. The Problem of Permanence (90:1–2)
Psalm 90:1–2: 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.
God teaches us to number our days over many days. Wisdom is not downloaded; it is formed. God uses repetition, failure, discipline, joy, sorrow, waiting, and loss to instruct us.
Wisdom begins when we stop pretending we can master time and start submitting ourselves to the God who stands outside it.
II. The Passing of Time (90:3–11)
Psalm 90:3-11: 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 that is renewed in the morning:
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
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.
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?
God allows us to feel the weight of time so we will not waste our lives pretending it does not exist.
III. The Prayer of Wisdom (90:12–17)
Psalm 90:12: So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
“Children can count to seventy. Saints must learn what seventy means.”
~ Charles Spurgeon
Psalm 139:16: Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 90:14-17: 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!
