Learn to number your days aright so that you may be wise hearted

Text Pslam 90:12 Time 25 06 17 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

I had an unusual request the other day. I learned that Harry, who has been coming to us for a little while now was about to turn sixty. As some of you know, Harry has been struggling with illness for some time and so whereas some people might just assume that they will reach the age of sixty, Harry realises that he might well not have reached this landmark. if it were not for the kindness of God to him.

And so Harry has invited friends along here this morning in order to help him celebrate and in order to do that and for the good of all our own souls, we are going to look at a text from Scripture. You will find it in Psalm 90:12

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Now before we look at that text let me say two things.

Firstly, you may say to me but should we be celebrating birthdays? Some of you may know that the so called Jehovah's Witnesses say that you should not celebrate your birthday. They forbid it. They apparently did not before 1951 but then had a change of heart.

On July 15 in 1980 in The Watchtower they said “The Bible reports only two birthday celebrations, both of persons who were not servants of the true God. The first was that of Pharaoh of Egypt. It was marked by the hanging of Pharaoh’s baker, who had been in prison with Joseph. … The second, some 1,800 years later, was the birthday of Herod Antipas [during which the daughter of Herodias asked for] ‘The head of John the baptiser.’ … Is it just coincidental that they are mentioned and that both were for persons not having God’s approval? Or could it be that Jehovah deliberately had these details recorded in his Word, which he says is “beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight”?” (pp 30, 31)

They also note Ecclesiastes 7:1 where Solomon says A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.

This is typical of their cavalier approach to the Bible, drawing conclusions on the flimsiest of evidence. Yes, the two men whose birthdays are noted are hardly exemplars to Christians and both Scriptures link birthday celebration and death but that hardly says anything against celebrating a birthday. Ecclesiastes 7:1, in the other hand, is a proverb and must be taken that way.

Rather than jumping to false conclusions let's say instead that if and when we celebrate birthdays we should do so in a sober and sensible way, remembering each returning birthday brings us closer to death and seeking not to make the mistakes that Pharaoh and Herod made in their day.

That seems to me to be a far more biblical approach.

The other thing is to say something about the context of the verse we want to consider this morning. Most though not all the psalms are by David. This one is uniquely A prayer of Moses the man of God and was clearly written during the time in the wilderness.

The prayer begins by contrasting God's eternal nature and our mortality. The Lord has been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or he brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting he is are God. We, however, are those he turns back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, you mortals." For God A thousand years ... are like a day ... just gone by, or ... a watch in the night. We, by contrast, he sweeps away in the sleep of death like grass - In the morning the grass springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.

At that time in the desert the people were under God's judgement – all Moses' generation would die before they reached Canaan. Moses sees they are consumed by God's anger ... terrified by his indignation. Because of their iniquities, their secret sins seen by God All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. People, as now, were living to 70 or 80 yet says Moses poignantly the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

The final verses (13-17) are a prayer for God's compassion - Relent, LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. He prays for God to satisfy them with with his unfailing love so that they will be joyful while they live. Make us glad he says (15) for as many days as you have afflicted us … His final request is that God's favour will rest on them and that he will establish the work of their hands.

Before that though he thinks about God's anger (11 If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due) and he says (12)

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Four things from this verse for us then

1. Consider what sort of request Moses makes of God – to be taught

The verse begins Teach us. This sort of thing comes up often in the psalms. For example

Psalm 25:4, 5 Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long.

27:11 Teach me your way, LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors.

86:11 Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness.

143:10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

In Psalm 119 it comes many times teach me your decrees, teach me your decrees (six times at least 12, 26, 64, 68, 124, 135).

29 be gracious to me and teach me your law 33 Teach me, LORD, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end 66 Teach me knowledge and good judgement, for I trust your commands 108 Accept, LORD, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws.

A request for teaching assumes ignorance on our part and that is right. By nature we do not know how to live. We need to learn how to do that. Who better to teach us than God himself. He knows the answer well for at least two three reasons.

1. He is the God who made all things including us. He designed us and made us with the view that we should be in his image and live for his glory.

2. He is also God the Son, the one who came to this earth and lived and died in the place of sinners. His life was a perfect life and so he knows by experience what it is to live as many should live.

3. Thirdly, as God the Spirit he is the one who enable the Lord Jesus to live every day for God's glory and the one who will enable us to if we look to him.

When people who know what they are doing go off to university, they find out who are the best teachers and apply to those universities. The best teacher of all is God himself. Go to him and learn.

Here then is something we need to learn, something we need to learn from God. It may well not come easy but we must learn it anyway. God is able to teach us.

2. Understand what it is Moses wants God to teach us – to number our days

So what is it that Moses wants to learn from God? He asks that we will learn to number our days.

We learn to count when we are very young. We start with addition then subtraction and then move on to multiplication an division. Next come fractions and equations. The highest maths is learning to number your days. We need to learn to number our days. What does that mean? He has spoken about death and the brevity of life and the regular manifestations of God's wrath against the people. Every person has only a limited time here on this earth. We may live 70 years or 80. Moses is rare – he reached 120. However old we get, we die. What Moses requests then, and it is something that we should all seek, is that we may be able to have the right approach to our lives. It is not that we forget about the past completely but that we focus on the day ahead.

He is not asking to know how long he has left but to be able to discern how quickly the days pass, the fact that death can come at any time and that life on earth will certainly end at some point. No doubt he also has in mind that judgement that follows death. If we are to number our days as we ought to then we will be aware of the coming judgement and we will order our days in the light of that coming judgement.

You read sometimes of people who have managed to lose millions. They once were rich but now they are poor. How does it happen? Probably not overnight. Usually it is little by little. In the same way, we learn to live wisely little by little, day by day.

Here is a good prayer for all of us to pray then. Ask the Lord to teach you, to instruct you, to help you to understand how to live – not thinking we have all the time in the world but realising that life passes by quickly and that death can call at any time. Ask him to help you to prepare for the coming judgement in the right way.

Here are three good questions for us all.

1 How long do people usually live? Here it is 70 or 80. In UK at the moment it is 799.1 (males) 82.6 (females).

2 How many of my days are already spent? For me 58 years and 33 days – I'm getting closer to70m all the time – as you are!

3 How many days to go? None of us knows!

3. Notice how the request Moses makes to God concerns not years or months – but days

You notice too that it is not Teach us to number our years or months or weeks but Teach us to number our days. The use of day emphasises how short life is but it also teaches us that if we are going to learn about this, it is going to be a daily thing, a day by day thing.

In his famous Screwtape Letters where a Senior Devil writes to a junior one C S Lewis has the senior one write this

“The humans live in time but our Enemy destines them to eternity. He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point of time, which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which [God] has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them. He would therefore have them continually concerned either with eternity or with the Present- either meditating on their eternal union with, or separation from, Himself, or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure.”

That is surely right. Life is to be lived moment by moment, day by day. When they were in the desert the manna that they ate descended day by day. There was normally only enough for each day. Jesus commands us to pray give us our daily bread.

God has made us to live in a day by day pattern. I noticed that on a page designed to help cancer sufferers (not a Christian thing) it highlights the benefits of living like this. It says things like riding out your feelings, not pretending we don't have bad days, not worrying or being consumed by what ifs, get up in the morning and go to bed at a sensible time – all good advice.

For Christians each day should begin with God. You may not have time for reading your Bible then but at least begin with prayer. The day should end with prayer too. I was reading about Jane Austen the novelist the other day. She died 200 years ago this year. There seems to be evidence that she was a Christian. She wrote a prayer for the end of the day.

“Look with Mercy on the Sins we have this day committed, and in Mercy make us feel them deeply, that our Repentance may be sincere, and our resolutions steadfast of endeavouring against the commission of such in future. Teach us to understand the sinfulness of our own Hearts, and bring to our knowledge every fault of Temper and every evil Habit in which we have indulged to the discomfort of our fellow-creatures, and the danger of our own Souls. May we now, and on each return of night, consider how the past day has been spent by us, what have been our prevailing Thoughts, Words, and Actions during it, and how far we can acquit ourselves of Evil. Have we thought irreverently of Thee, have we disobeyed thy commandments, have we neglected any known duty, or willingly given pain to any human being? Incline us to ask our Hearts these questions Oh! God, and save us from deceiving ourselves by Pride or Vanity.”

That is a good way to end each day.

One way people often suggest to live learning to number their days is to live each day as if it were their last. Not easy to do but strongly recommended. Too easily we forget about death.

Back in the seventies there was a hit song called one day at a time sweet Jesus. It is not a great song from a Christian point of view but the idea of living one day at a time, conscious of Jesus is a spot on.

4. Realise why it is Moses asks God for what he does ask - that we may gain a heart of wisdom

When we do what our text says and number our days aright, we begin to gain a heart of wisdom. We remember that we are all going to die one day. We learn to be humble and to fear God – the beginning of wisdom. We realise that we do not have enough time at our disposal to justify wasting a moment.

It is to the end of becoming wise that we are to seek God then to teach us to number our days. Further it is wisdom we need – not riches or anything else.

Someone once observed that it is a pity that it is not until people are about to die that they really understand how they ought to live. They “know not to what end they were born into this world, until they are ready to go out of it”. Let's not wait until is almost too late.

You notice the phrase is a heart of wisdom not a head of wisdom. Spiritual wisdom is something that takes hold of the heart not just the head. The man whose heart learns wisdom says one Puritan (Henry Smith) “learns more in a month after than he did in a year before, nay, than ever he did in his life.” You learn a thing best when you put your heart into it.

Of course, wisdom is found above all in Jesus Christ and so we can say that as we learn to number our days so we are directed to Jesus Christ. That is how it should be.

We will all only know how to be wise if we remember how short our lives are. Let's remember the fact and learn to be wise. In the little time we have let's trust in Christ and live for his praise. Sadly, we forget too easily how brief life is. Let's not.