Psalm 90 Making Time Count Dennis Mock

Sunday, August 30, 2009

There are two great equalizers in life; death and time. Death we have no control over but
we do have some control over our time. We all have the same amount each day. The only
question is what do we do with it? Psalm 90 this morning is attributed to Moses. It would
then be the oldest of all the Psalms. Revealed to a man to whom God revealed His name
and glory. Moses had a block of time of almost 40 years that are addressed in this Psalm.
Because of the faith failure in Numbers 14 Moses is leading a people in exile in the
wilderness. God has actually shown mercy by preserving them in the wilderness until a
new generation arises. This is an extraordinarily majestic Psalm with 4 major points and
stanzas.

Read Psalm 90
(1-6)
(7-11)
(12-17)

– This is a profound Psalm with philosophical feeling.

– This is truth in an unadulterated form. In some ways comforting in others troubling.
– Notice all the names of God are used; Adonai, Yahweh/Jehovah, Elohim

I. God Exists Eternally (1-2)

a. There is no before or after or beyond God.
b. I AM That I AM means God eternally exists in the present tense.
c. God created the matter from which He made everything. It will continue to
function according to His laws until He brings it to an end.
d. God never acts out of character.
e. We cannot conceive of infinity.
f. Moses knows we will come and go in a relatively short period of time. Time
stays and we go not the other way around.
i. We are as finite as He is infinite.
II. Man’s Existence is Brief (3-6)
a. We are frail children of dust and feeble as frail in Thee do we trust.
b. A thousand or a million years are the same as a day to God.
c. Death comes to all.
d. 1000 years sounds like a lot to us. We may live only about 120 years at most.
e. I might like to soft pedal this truth but I cannot!
f. We are really bound up in this thing we call time. We think of 6 hour car drive
as a long time.
i. We are bound by and controlled by time.
ii.I like to put things in boxes. I feel I am accomplishing something if I am
focused on a task.
g. Remember during the 40 years in the wilderness that many are dying every
day.
h. If our lives are so short and brief and we cannot fathom eternity and our lives
continue to move inexorably towards the conclusion of death, then how
should we live?
i. H. W. Longfellow – Clocks are not time, nor are days or hours, time is the life
of the soul. It is all that God gives us.
j. We do well to spend an hour together this morning focused on God’s Word.
III. Man’s Plight on Earth is the Result of Sin (7-11)
a. We can trace everything back to Genesis 3.
i. When Adam and Eve decided to be “god” themselves.
ii.We only come to rest when we finally give up and let God have His
rightful place in our lives.
b. Everything in our lives are seen and known by God. Wrath is His settled
disposition towards all that sin.
c. There are those who seem to have greater trials than others. But we all have
travails.
i. Genesis 49 – Jacob said my years have been short and miserable.
ii.Moses wanted to enter into the Promised Land but could not.
iii.We would all like some more time!
d. What are we doing with the time we have? Are we letting it slip away? We all
face this same challenge.
i. We have to find out from God’s perspective what is the best way for us
to invest our time.
e. Everything that comes our way ultimately comes from God. This includes
trouble and trial!
IV. We Must Develop a Perspective on Time which depends on our View of
God (12-17)
a. We could go read Ecclesiastes.
b. Never forget that when God judges for sin it as much a sign of His
faithfulness as His blessings. (11)
i. God must judge sin or He is untrue to His nature.
c. Notice how Moses ends the Psalm:
i. (13) Relent O LORD! – He knows it will be 40 years. He still asks God to
short circuit that.
ii.God does not answer that prayer in the affirmative yet He has already
treated them mercifully.
iii.(14) The circumstances haven’t changed yet Moses now turns to
affirming that all He can rely on is God’s unfailing love and He can find
joy and gladness in that.
1. He can find fulfillment in the time that is allotted to him even if
the rest of his life will be wandering in the wilderness.
2. God calls to us: “Won’t you be satisfied with Me!”
iv.(16-17) When Moses realized his perspective needed to change He
asked God to bless him in the work of His hands.
1. His work was to lead a stubborn and rebellious people who will all
die in the desert!
2. We are not called to be Moses or Paul, Peter, etc. We are called to
be who we are and the circumstances we find ourselves in.
3. Jesus never condemned someone for being a Roman soldier or
even a tax collector. He simply told them to do it with integrity
and gratitude to God.
a. We can all find meaning in our routine.
v.APP: We should all look back and consider what we have done with our
time so far.
vi.Like Moses we should ask for a glad heart in what God has given us to
do.
1. All we have is a given block of time. We must do with it what we
are able to bring glory to God and serve His purposes.
 2. The setting of this Psalm is so important to realize in what
situation Moses wrote these words.
3. It is most important why we do what we do and primarily “who”
we do it for.
d. The real question becomes “How do we make our days count”?
i. (12) Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of
wisdom.
ii.We are to work, not be idle, and invest in something that has meaning.
iii.Three things to keep in mind:
1. We have an absolutely finite amount of time in this life.
a. We don’t know how much that is.
2. We can always count on God being God.
a. Always loving, always kind, always judges sin.
3. “What we weave in time we will wear for eternity” Anon.
a. What we spend our time on here and the decisions we
make here will determine what we do in eternity.
iv.Suggestions:
1. Don’t ponder the past too much!
a. You cannot undo the sins and unwise choices.
b. All we can do is work through the consequences and make
the best we can. Learn from mistakes but don’t stew over
them.
c. We need to walk away quickly from bad days and unmet
expectations.
d. Moses can’t change Kadesh Barnea. He can only move
forward and serve in the circumstances he finds himself in.
2. Don’t presume on the future.
a. We have no idea what it holds.
b. Today has enough troubles and worries of it’s own.
c. We should say, “If the Lord wills”
d. All we have is now! Time is fascinating. It really doesn’t
exist in the future or the past. It only exists “now”.
e. We must purpose to live wisely in the moment.
3. Do purpose to live life wisely now according tot the truth of God’s
Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
a. It will involve reprioritizing your life around God.
b. It requires a renewed purpose in life.
i. It may require finding the “work of your hands”.
c. When was the last time we had a time of quite
contemplation before the Lord to figure this out?
4. If we are not investing in other people and are spending all our
time on ourselves it is a vain pursuit, which gains us nothing.
a. We should invest in our children, our spouses, our friends,
our neighbors.

I want to end with a quote: “Lost time can never be found again”
And all the verses of “O God our Help in Ages Past”:

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
“Return, ye sons of men:”
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in following years.

Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

Like flowery fields the nations stand
Pleased with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower’s hand
Lie withering ere ‘tis night.

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.