1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,560 It's not often that you read something in Scripture, something really, really ancient, 2 00:00:04,560 --> 00:00:13,680 something 3500 years old, and think to yourself that that text of Scripture is more applicable 3 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:20,800 in today's world than it was in the day it was written. But I think today's Psalm fits that bill. 4 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:27,680 The subject for our time this morning is understanding time and how to approach it 5 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:34,320 with wisdom, which is super practical. In fact, never let anyone tell you the Bible isn't intensely 6 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:40,960 practical. It is. And in the world that we live in today, learning about how to use time, I think, 7 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:46,960 is more important than any era of human history. Now, why do I say that? I say that because the 8 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:54,720 pace of change in our world today is accelerating at levels never seen before. Changes in religious 9 00:00:54,720 --> 00:01:01,120 demographics, changes in social movements, changes in economic classes, changes in the outlook of 10 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:07,440 governments across the world, and most obviously changes in technology that threaten to take us 11 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:13,760 to some very uncertain places. And across the board today, we're all sort of feeling a sense of, well, 12 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:20,080 okay, what's next? What could possibly be next? And for some of us, we're asking, is time beginning 13 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:26,880 to run out? So this is a very, very practical topic that we're going to study today. For those of you 14 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:31,520 here this morning who are on the younger side, you're in your 20s and 30s, maybe recently you've 15 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:37,920 thought to yourself, do I have time to build a career? Do I have time to find a spouse? Will there 16 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:43,520 ever be a time that I can afford to buy a home? Will I have time to not just have, but raise children? 17 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:48,400 And for those of us who are on the upper scale, we're wondering how much time do we have left 18 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:54,640 before we pass from this life into eternity? So the issue of time is a big one. We just don't 19 00:01:54,640 --> 00:02:01,280 find the time to think about it. Catch the irony there? It's like the old one-liner, I'm going to 20 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:05,600 take a time management class as soon as I can figure out how to fit it into my schedule. 21 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:13,360 This is what we live under. Read an interesting quote this week that had some excellent truth in 22 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:18,320 it, but you're going to see it on the screen. In the end, it fell just a little bit short, 23 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:24,480 here's what it said, time is an equal opportunity employer. Every human being has exactly the same 24 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:31,360 number of hours and minutes per day. Rich people can't buy more hours. Scientists can't invent new 25 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:38,560 minutes and you can't save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair. No 26 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:44,800 matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have tomorrow. Now the first half or the 27 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:49,760 first three quarters of that quote is accurate. Time is what it is. It can't be purchased, it can't 28 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:56,400 be invented, it can't be saved up, but look at that last statement. That's where it falls short. Even 29 00:02:56,400 --> 00:03:02,480 if you've wasted time in the past, guess what? There is no promise that you have tomorrow to make 30 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:08,240 up for it. We're not guaranteed tomorrow. In fact, you can work hard for decades, you can amass a 31 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:15,040 great fortune, you can set your heart on retirement someday, you can hit all of the life goals 32 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:20,080 that you set for yourself, you can accumulate all kinds of material goods and make a great name for 33 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:26,960 yourself, and it can suddenly be brought to nothing through the one thing that levels the playing field 34 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:33,520 100% of the time, and that is death. And for a little while, family members and friends will grieve 35 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:40,720 and mourn over a life lost, but eventually everybody moves on. You have to, and if you doubt that, 36 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:45,120 go visit a cemetery and look at the gravestones, look at how faded they are. 37 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:52,080 People move on, they have to, and it raises the question, is life on earth, is it just futile, 38 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:59,840 or can we discover real significance in the days that we're given? That's what we're going to talk 39 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:03,840 about today, and it leads me to one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies, Lord of the 40 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:10,160 Rings. Some of you know this scene, Frodo, who is the main character. I'll give you just, I won't go 41 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:16,400 into detail. Frodo is the main character, and he's talking to Gandalf, who is the wise and learned 42 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:21,920 character in the story. He's talking to Gandalf about the difficulty of the age they find themselves 43 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:28,400 in. It's an age where Sauron, the evil character, is rising, and there's this one ring that rules 44 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:33,680 all the other rings that has been found, and that sets up the basic conflict of the story, 45 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:41,280 and Frodo says this. He says, I wish it need not have happened in my time, and wise Gandalf replies, 46 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:49,600 so do I, and so do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to 47 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:57,280 decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. Brilliant, right? The point that Tolkien was 48 00:04:57,280 --> 00:05:03,040 making is simple. We're all born into a particular time and a particular era ordained by the Lord 49 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:07,200 for his purposes. The question is, what are we going to do with the time that we've been given, 50 00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:12,480 and will we rise to the challenges that are laid before us in this period of time 51 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:18,400 ordained by God? Will we rise to that challenge? Let's see. Let's grab our Bibles. Go to Psalm 90. 52 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:22,720 Psalm 90 marks the beginning of the fourth collection of the Psalms. Hey, we're in the 53 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:29,280 fourth collection of five. We're making progress, right? So, five books within the book, this is 54 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:35,360 the fourth one, and book four runs from Psalm 90 to Psalm 106. Now, this psalm is very, very unique 55 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:41,760 because it's not written by David, and it's not written by Asaph or the sons of Korah, which we've 56 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:47,440 looked at recently, and it's not written by the sons of Korah, and it's not written by the sons of 57 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:53,200 Korah, which we've looked at recently, men who lived during the period of David and Solomon. Psalm 90 is the oldest 58 00:05:53,200 --> 00:06:00,720 psalm in the entire collection. It predates David by somewhere around 450 years, and as you can see, 59 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:07,200 if you look at the superscription at the top, it should say in there that the authorship is attributed 60 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:16,240 to a guy named, let me see, Moses. Anybody know Moses? Yeah, that's the Moses, the Moses, 61 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:22,000 and it says there that this is a prayer of Moses, and that he's called what? The man of God, and by 62 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:26,000 the way, that's not the only place in the Bible where he's called the man of God five other times. 63 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:31,680 In the Old Testament, Moses is referred to in that way, including in the Torah, in Deuteronomy 33.1. 64 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:38,560 So, Moses, as we know, was uniquely a man of God, and he was God's man for the moment that he lived in, 65 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:45,200 and as we talk about time, that's important to notice. He was God's man for that particular moment, 66 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:50,720 and obviously, even today, he's greatly revered by the Jewish community and by Christians like us. 67 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:56,400 Now, you may be thinking, why is Moses writing a psalm, right? He's not David. He wasn't a musician 68 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:00,720 as far as we know, but I'm going to surprise you now. This isn't the only song that he's written. 69 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:05,760 Two other places in the Old Testament, Moses writes songs. He appears to have written a song 70 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:11,760 recorded in Exodus 15. It's sometimes called the Song of the Sea, which is a celebration of God's 71 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:18,320 hand of protection as the Israelites cross the Red Sea, and then before his death, he penned a 43-verse 72 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:24,480 song that is literally called the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32. So, we shouldn't be surprised 73 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:30,480 that he wrote this song in Psalm 90 and that it was read by generation after generation of Israelites. 74 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:36,000 It was passed down through the centuries and then later compiled into this collection of songs that 75 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:42,400 we know as Israel's Book of Psalms. Now, there's both external evidence that Moses wrote this song. 76 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:47,680 There is a long historical tradition of his authorship, but also, importantly, internal 77 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:53,600 evidence. There is common vocabulary and phraseology in Psalm 90 that compares favorably with some of 78 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:59,200 his other writings. So, we're confident in his authorship. Now, what about the context? The 79 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:04,880 question is always, when did he write this? And as you can see, there's no historical details given 80 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:10,000 to us in the superscription, which is a bummer, right? For nerds like us, this is a bummer. What 81 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:16,720 that means is we have to rely on some oral tradition and we have to look at some informed 82 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:21,760 speculation based on what's written in the Psalm itself. And the good news is there's pretty good 83 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:27,760 consensus on this. Most Old Testament scholars are convinced that Psalm 90 was written after the 84 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:33,840 Exodus out of Egypt and during the wilderness wanderings, the 40 years that Moses was leading 85 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:38,960 the Israelites through the desert. Some have even pinned it down to a very specific chapter 86 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:46,080 in the Torah, in Numbers 20, because a series of things happen in Numbers 20. Moses' sister 87 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:51,920 Miriam dies. That's where Moses sins against God by striking the rock. And it's also the chapter 88 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:58,320 where his brother Aaron dies. And so, some believe that those tragic events are the motivation behind 89 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:04,800 what Moses chooses to write about in this song. The fact is, at that time, Moses was a man 90 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:10,640 surrounded by death. We have to understand this. He was surrounded by death. Why? Because again, 91 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:15,360 he's leading all these Israelites, and I've seen all kinds of numbers, hundreds of thousands 92 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:20,800 of Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and towards this particular land that was promised to Abraham, 93 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:27,200 but because they grumbled against God, because they were disobedient, God determined that that 94 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:32,240 generation of Israelites would not make it into the land. What would happen to them? They would die 95 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:40,880 in the wilderness. And so, think about that. It's funerals every day. Moses is surrounded by death. 96 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:46,480 He's seeing people that he knows, people that he loves dying. And so, this is the backdrop of the 97 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:52,720 psalm. He's reflecting on the shortness of life. He's reflecting on the fact that as people pass 98 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:58,160 from this life into eternity, we need to know what matters most. And you'll see that as we go along. 99 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:02,320 So, here's the way we're going to work through this text. Basically, there's four sections here in 100 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:08,720 Psalm 90, two of which speak of some really difficult truths, the end of man and the reason 101 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:15,280 for death. And then the other two talk about how we can find real significance in life in spite of 102 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:20,400 the shortness of the time we're giving. So, basically, like the gospel, you know, we're 103 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:24,320 going to talk first about the bad news you see highlighted there in gray. And then at the end, 104 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:28,720 we'll come back to the good news in sections one and four. Make sense? So, I'll leave that out there 105 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:34,400 so you can track with us. Let's start. Let's skip past verses one and two and drop down to verse 106 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:39,760 three, which is the second of the four sections. Now, remember, as we read this, we're going to read 107 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:45,200 verses three through six, Moses is the compiler and author of the Genesis narrative, right? 108 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:51,440 Right? So, as we read these verses, see if you can hear a faint echo of key portions in the book of 109 00:10:51,440 --> 00:11:01,760 Genesis, verse three. You turn man back into dust and say, return, O children of men, or return, 110 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:09,040 O descendants of Adam, for a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, 111 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:15,440 or as a watch in the night. You have swept them away like a flood. They fall asleep. In the morning, 112 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:20,400 they're like grass, which sprouts anew. In the morning, it flourishes and sprouts anew. 113 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:26,800 Toward the evening, it fades and withers away. And so, the big idea of this section is very simple. 114 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:34,320 Human life is short and it's fleeting. And as much as we try to cling onto it, as much as we try in 115 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:39,840 these finite minds to process what we're experiencing in these bodies, what Moses is trying 116 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:45,040 to do here, he's using a bunch of poetic statements to shake us from that condition and to say, look 117 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:50,960 bigger, look broader, look at the big picture of what's going on around you. And we see that we 118 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:57,440 see people dying every day, right? Every day, it happens all around us. So, you see here in verse 119 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:02,960 three, an obvious reference back to the creation account of man in Genesis two, right? And then 120 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:08,480 in Genesis two, right? When the Lord formed Adam from the dust of the earth. And now, Moses reminds 121 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:14,800 us that's where we will return. God himself declared that, right? Genesis 3 19. God said, 122 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:20,160 you are dust, O man, and to dust you will return. And of course, the reason for that return to the 123 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:28,000 dust is because of the fall. It's because of Adam's sin and because of our sin as well. We will all 124 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:33,280 return to the ground someday. And that is a judgment from the Lord that has to take place. 125 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:38,880 And then in verse four, he draws a contrast between the way we view time and the way God 126 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:44,960 views time. He, of course, being an eternal being, God exists outside of time. We have to understand 127 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:50,400 this, right? I know it's hard for our finite minds, but God is outside of his creation, outside of 128 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:58,320 time and space. So a thousand years, which seems so long to us, to him, it's like a single day. Like 129 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:03,680 yesterday, as it passes by, Moses says, or like a single hours watching the night, a thousand years. 130 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:09,920 Now imagine that for a second. Think of, think of your yesterday, your Saturday. Don't Saturdays go 131 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:16,640 really fast. They always do, right? Whatever your Saturday looked like, it came and it went very, 132 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:21,600 very quickly. And the next thing you knew, you were waking up and getting ready for church. That's the 133 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:29,120 way God sees a thousand years passing on the earth, that quickly. Now, are there echoes of Genesis 134 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:34,080 here? Most scholars believe there is. Most scholars believe that Moses is thinking about the extensive 135 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:39,440 lifespans that people lived prior to the flood. Methuselah, for example, lived almost a thousand 136 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:45,360 years. So Moses is saying, even if such a person lived that long, it's still nothing to God. And 137 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:52,560 we look at Methuselah and we're like, who wants to live for 969 years? But even that is a blip on the 138 00:13:52,560 --> 00:13:59,920 radar of history from the way God understands it. Now, God certainly understands how earthly 139 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:06,880 progression of time happens, but for him, for him, time is not a series of successive moments. God 140 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:12,560 sees all of human history at once. Think about that. From the first day of creation to the last, 141 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:18,080 he sees it all at one time. It's kind of hard for us to understand, but think about how wild that 142 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:23,440 concept is. What was happening on the earth a thousand years ago? What events were unfolding 143 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:29,360 that would lead to the first European crusade, right? To take back the Holy Land from the 144 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:36,160 Muslims. From God's perspective, that was like your Saturday. It was like yesterday. And by that 145 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:40,480 standard, Columbus set sail for the new world about a half a day ago, about 12 hours ago. 146 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:45,120 That's how awesome our God is. So we have a reference to creation in verse three, an allusion 147 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:49,840 to the pre-flood world in verse four, and then listen to verse five, another reference from 148 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:56,400 Genesis. You have swept them away like what? Like a flood. Anybody ever hear of the flood? 149 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:02,080 Meaning you, God, have brought their earthly lives to an end. You have returned them to the dust. 150 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:07,600 And notice the language, just as important, God sovereignly causes these things to happen. 151 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:12,560 We often talk about, well, he passed away from natural causes, right? That's sort of the way we 152 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:19,920 rationalize it. But Moses says, no, you, God, you turned man back into dust. You sweep them away. 153 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:26,160 And by describing it that way, he's describing our helplessness in the face of death. As much as we 154 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:30,960 try to control our lives, as much as we, you know, we set out to do all these things to try to 155 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:38,000 extend our lives at the end of the day, we just don't have sovereign control over it. Only he does. 156 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:44,240 And then just in case you haven't yet grasped his point, Moses uses this poetic imagery of grass 157 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:50,000 in the field to describe how quickly our lives fade away. And the way he describes it, we can 158 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:55,440 all sort of connect with this, right? Every new generation sprouts anew, he says, and they look so 159 00:15:55,440 --> 00:16:00,960 promising. Everything looks so fresh and promising, but then towards the end of the evening, everything 160 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:06,960 sort of dries up and turns brown and it withers away. And as a homeowner who's tried for decades 161 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:13,920 to keep my yard from dying, you know, all my plants, I'm constantly maintaining them. Guess what? 162 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:19,280 Ultimately, they all pass away. Let me come visit my house sometime. You'll see it. 163 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:26,240 And my body testifies to this truth as well. How quickly the promise of younger days just flies by. 164 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:30,720 It seems like yesterday that I was going into vocational ministry in my thirties 165 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:34,480 and then I like woke up one day, I was in my sixties and I was a grandpa. 166 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:42,320 How did that happen? Well, human life is short and fleeting. And Moses's point is rather than 167 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:47,840 deny that wisdom dictates that we start with that as a fact of the heart. And that's the point. 168 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:52,560 That we start with that as a foundational truth, acknowledge that that is a fact 169 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:59,200 and that God's in control of it. Amen. Okay. Let's go to the second section, beginning of verse seven. 170 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:06,400 Right? Seven through 10. Here, Moses describes the hard truth about our lives 171 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:10,480 and he gives us the reason that we all have to go back to the dust. 172 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:16,080 This is tough stuff. Verse seven, for we have been consumed or brought to an end 173 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:22,240 by your anger and by your wrath, we have been dismayed or terrified. 174 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:30,480 You have placed our iniquities before you. Even our secret sins have been placed in the light 175 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:37,040 of your presence. So the same God who stands above time and sees a thousand years like a day, 176 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:41,760 he has the right and authority to judge mankind in his righteous anger. 177 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:46,320 His anger is not sinful, it's righteous and it is just. And when his wrath has kindled, 178 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:53,200 man is rightfully condemned. This is a hard truth. And again, Moses was witnessing this all around 179 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:58,400 him, friends, family members, fellow Israelites, constantly dying throughout their wandering in 180 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:03,600 the desert. And people say that death is just a natural part of the cycle of life that we should 181 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:08,000 accept it as normal. And from a standpoint, a practical standpoint, that is true. But as 182 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:14,720 believers, we should never lose sight of the fact that sin caused this. That that's at the 183 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:21,680 at the base of it. The disobedient choices of man has caused this cycle of death. And we should 184 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:26,000 recognize that every time someone dies, they're about to stand before a holy God for judgment, 185 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:31,040 not just for their obvious sins, Moses says, but for the secret sins as well, because everything 186 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:37,280 eventually gets laid bare before an all knowing God. We can't hide it. We can't hide it. We can't 187 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:44,000 hide anything from him. The great Jonathan Edwards once preached a message titled the justice of God 188 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:50,560 and the damnation of sinners. That'll preach the justice of God and the damnation of sinners. And 189 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:56,000 in that message, he argues that our problem with God's judgment, our problem with hell itself 190 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:02,160 comes from the fact that we think too lowly of God and too highly of ourselves. And this is, 191 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:07,040 you'll find this in the world all the time. We think too lowly of God and too highly of ourselves. 192 00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:12,480 So Edwards goes on to say in our pride, we declare our right to self-empowerment 193 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:19,440 to do as we please. When the reality is we've earned every bit of God's condemnation and it is 194 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:25,920 he who does as he pleases, not us. That's the fundamental mistake that so many in the world 195 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:33,760 make today. Verse nine then, for all our days have declined in your fury. In other words, they 196 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:41,200 pass away under your wrath. We have finished our years like a sigh, which is a beautifully poetic 197 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:45,920 statement, right? Here again, we're reminded of the Genesis account. Recall what was Adam's 198 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:50,960 punishment, the consequence for his sin in the garden. Here's what it says. Cursed is the ground 199 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:56,640 because of you. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. By the sweat of your face, 200 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:01,600 you will eat bread until you return to the ground. In other words, your life and your work is going 201 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:10,080 to be marked by what? Pain, toil, frustration. And then as your body begins to break down, to fade and 202 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:15,760 wither just like that grass, you will finish your days on earth with a sigh or with a groan. 203 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:26,800 And again, I can testify to that as I get older. We're groaning. Okay. So let's pause and just take 204 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:33,920 stock of what Moses has said so far. It's pretty heavy, but it's reality. And if this psalm were 205 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:40,160 just verses three through 10, we would all be in despair right now. And rightfully so, because 206 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:45,040 we've just diagnosed the problem. What's the solution? Well, let's look at the rest. 207 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:51,440 The first and fourth sections are going to show us how these short and fleeting lives that we have 208 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:57,600 on earth can have meaning and value. So we ought not to spare. Let's go back up to verse one now 209 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:05,840 and see what God has to say. Verse one, Lord, and by the way, the Hebrew word there is not Yahweh. 210 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:12,480 It's not even Elohim. It is Adonai, which speaks of God's kingly rule. It speaks of his authority 211 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:20,800 and power. Adonai, you have been our dwelling place or our refuge in all generations. Before the 212 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:25,680 mountains were born, before they were brought forth, or you gave birth to the earth and the world, 213 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:34,320 even from everlasting to everlasting, you are the eternal God. As in Psalm 84 last Sunday, 214 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:39,920 what we get here is a snapshot of two amazing principles about God, both his transcendence and 215 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:46,080 his imminence, both the fact that he is, he is up in heaven and above us and outside of all this, 216 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:51,760 but at the very same time down here with us, present with his people, amazing truth. 217 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:57,680 So first Moses paints for us this picture of Adonai's transcendence. He is from everlasting 218 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:04,640 to everlasting. Underline that phrase in your Bible. He is before time and he is beyond time, 219 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:11,200 from eternity to eternity. That is the highest description that we have in human language to 220 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:18,320 describe the eternal nature of God. We also see he's the alpha and the omega. He's the beginning 221 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:24,720 and the end. He's the first and the last. He is the one now, get this, who formed the entire universe 222 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:30,240 and we as humans still don't even know how large that is. Simply with a command, let it be. 223 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:38,240 Think about that. And yet in spite of that majesty, in spite of that transcendence, 224 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:44,560 in spite of that eternal nature, you Lord have condescended to be a dwelling place 225 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:50,960 for your people in every generation. And you can sort of picture Moses now, he's leading these 226 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:58,720 people through the wilderness and he says, he says, Adonai, we have needed you. Abraham needed you 227 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:04,240 and Isaac and Jacob, and we need you in the wilderness. And trust me, they constantly needed 228 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:10,320 Adonai to be a refuge and a protection and a shelter for them as they walked through the Sinai 229 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:15,360 and through the Negev. And notice the personal pronoun. This is where you get this eminence. 230 00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:23,200 Moses uses our, the Lord is our dwelling place, possessive. The eternal God is our God, he says. 231 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:30,640 And this is still true today among God's people in the church. You and I, we have our home in Christ. 232 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:37,600 Jesus himself, God the Son, God in the flesh said, abide in me and I in you, abide in my love. 233 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:44,080 This transcendent God says, I want to make a dwelling place with you. It's amazing. 234 00:23:45,360 --> 00:23:51,600 Jesus is our dwelling place today, our shelter, our protection, our home, our home. And where our home 235 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:57,280 is, we find joy and we find rest and we find peace. Even as we're in the midst of the battle over sin 236 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:02,160 in our lives, right? As the flesh and the spirit war, we still have our home in Jesus Christ 237 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:09,920 as these days quickly pass in our life. Augustine put it this way. You have created us for yourself, 238 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:17,200 O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you. That is the truth. If you don't 239 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:22,080 know Jesus, you hear this morning, you don't know Jesus Christ, you don't have that rest. You don't 240 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:27,920 have that peace. But he says, come and abide with me and I will abide with you. Abide in my love. 241 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:33,440 Now I've saved the best part of the Psalm until last. Let's drop down to verse 11. 242 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:40,000 We'll read through the rest of the Psalm, verses 11 to 17. Now remember now coming out of verse 10, 243 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:45,520 Moses has painted this really bleak picture of the shortness of man's life because of sin 244 00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:49,680 and the helplessness that we find ourselves in. Guys, I cannot stress that enough. 245 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:54,960 We are helpless in that, right? We are all corrupted. We are guilty before a holy God, 246 00:24:54,960 --> 00:25:02,480 and we cannot control the days of our lives. So what should man do? Right? That is the key 247 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:06,400 question when you're talking to somebody who doesn't know Jesus. Okay, so what now? What do we do? 248 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:12,960 Well, first get understanding. Look at verse 11, rhetorical question. Who understands the power 249 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:18,640 or the intensity of your anger and your fury according to the fear that is due you? 250 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:26,240 A clear way of reading that second phrase is your wrath matches the fear that is due you. 251 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:33,760 Think about that. Your wrath matches the fear that is due you. So who really understands? Who among 252 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:40,160 us as finite people can understand the intensity of God's anger and wrath? Can any of us really 253 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:47,920 understand how much fear is due this being who made the universe with a command? It's really not 254 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:54,480 possible, but we should read God's word and strive to recognize what that means because it's so weighty 255 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:59,920 and it's so important for us as we worship the Lord. And then once we try to understand that, 256 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:06,960 the next step is logical. Verse 12, so as a result of that, teach us to number our days 257 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:12,720 that we may present to you a heart of wisdom. Now that's a famous verse. A lot of us know that verse, 258 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:18,320 but reading it in context matters because of your blazing holiness, Lord, because of your perfect 259 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:26,720 righteousness and because we ought to fear you. Moses says, now Lord teach us, teach us, teach us 260 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:35,440 to grasp the full truth about you and your wrath and to grasp the full truth about our mortality 261 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:42,480 and our sin. Understanding both of those sides. Help us to see our lives here on earth as you do, 262 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:48,320 so that we'll develop the wisdom that we need to live lives that are pleasing in your sight 263 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:56,720 and therefore significant for all eternity. Let me say that again. Help us to see our lives here on 264 00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:03,280 earth as you do so that we will develop the wisdom that we need to live lives that are pleasing to 265 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:10,960 you and therefore will have significance. I think it's important to note that Moses's request for 266 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:16,320 God is to teach us. What does that mean? It means we have to learn. It means it's not just automatic. 267 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:23,440 Well, I received Jesus and therefore I have this wisdom. No, it's a learning process. God teaches, 268 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:31,040 but we need to listen. The spirit has to help us in this. We need to be taught and then we need to 269 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:36,880 be taught again and again. Right? This is part of living in the flesh. We need to be reminded 270 00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:42,080 over and over again about these truths, about the shortness of life. We need to be reminded 271 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:47,280 that earthly things are fleeting. We need to be reminded that we're not guaranteed tomorrow. 272 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:53,840 And the spirit will do that. The spirit always does his job. Where do things break down? With us. 273 00:27:53,840 --> 00:28:02,400 Will we listen to the spirit? Will we pay attention? Will we learn what the spirit wants to teach us? 274 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:08,560 Will we be open to having our minds renewed and our lives changed in such a way that our priorities 275 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:16,400 start to line up with the type of lives that we live? Are we going to be open to that? Or are we 276 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:22,480 just going to keep filling our days with busyness? Listen, is this not the bane of our day? 277 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:28,320 To fill our lives with busyness and entertainment and memes and reels and stories on our phones? 278 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,360 We just pretend that everything's going to be fine. Just keep scrolling 279 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:42,800 and that none of this requires our attention. And I'll be honest, this is a struggle for every 280 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:48,240 person in the room, including me, every one of us, but friends hear Moses on this. 281 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:54,880 We number all kinds of things in our lives. We do our finances, our schedules, our social media 282 00:28:54,880 --> 00:29:00,480 likes, our vacation time, but do we number our days on earth? Do we pay attention to that? 283 00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:06,720 Most of us are focusing either on the future or on the past. Right? If you're on the younger side, 284 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:11,680 you're looking forward. You're always, man, if I could relive my life, I would fix this. 285 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:16,560 You're always looking to the next season. Because right now, we're looking to the next season. 286 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:20,880 Cause right now you're like, Oh, this isn't so great, but the next season. And then guess what? 287 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:26,800 The next season and then the next season. And you don't have contentment. And if you're on the 288 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:32,800 older side, you're looking back and going, where did the time go? Can I get back there? Friends, 289 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:39,680 the present matters. This is part of what Moses is saying. The present really matters. And since 290 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:45,920 we don't have assurance of tomorrow, we dare not waste the present, either looking back at the 291 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:51,920 present, either looking back or looking forward. If we're not numbering our days and acknowledging 292 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:57,440 our mortality, then we are lacking practical wisdom for life. And the results of that are 293 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:04,160 predictable. It ends up in selfish living. It ends up in misplaced priorities. It ends up with 294 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:10,960 lots and lots of wasted time. And it ends in missed opportunities to love and serve and care 295 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:18,480 for people. Going back to what I said at the outset, we've all been born into this particular 296 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:24,320 era that was ordained by the Lord for his purposes. So how are you going to respond to the needs of 297 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:33,920 the hour right now in the present? Let's keep going. Verse 13, Moses says, do return, O Lord, 298 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:40,800 how long will it be or how long will this suffering last and be sorry for your servants? Now, 299 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:46,400 again, it's a little bit awkward in the NASB. So here's a simple way to read it. Turn back to us, 300 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:53,920 Lord, how long will this suffering last? Have compassion on your servants. And he goes on to 301 00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:59,600 verse 14, O, satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness, your chesed, right? That's your 302 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:06,560 steadfast love that we may sing for joy and be glad all of our days. Now, as he says, this is 303 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:12,560 critical. He's not taking back what he wrote earlier about God's anger and wrath. He's not taking 304 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:19,760 that back. It's deserved, he says, but in spite of God's righteousness and judging men for their sin, 305 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:27,440 as he now comes to the end of the Psalm, Moses pleads for mercy. He hasn't taken back wrath. We 306 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:34,960 deserve it. But now he says, be compassionate on us, be merciful to your servants. We deserve your 307 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:41,200 wrath, Lord, but I'm asking for grace. Friends take note of this. This is salvation by grace through 308 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:47,360 faith in the Old Testament. We think of that often as just a New Testament concept, but here it is, 309 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:56,720 right? We deserve wrath. We're petitioning you for grace. You're our God. We trust in you. We love you. 310 00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:04,160 Our faith is in you. Show us compassion. You've placed our iniquities before you, even our secret 311 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:10,720 sins. Yet I know Lord, that you are a refuge for those who trust in you. That can be a prayer we 312 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:17,440 say today, right? So have compassion on us. Satisfy us each morning with your covenant love so that we 313 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:22,560 as your people can sing for joy and be glad in these days that we have numbered on the earth. 314 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:32,000 That's the big point. Verse 15, I love this. Make us glad according to or in proportion to the days 315 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:39,840 you have afflicted us and the years that we have seen evil. Let your work appear or be shown to your 316 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:45,440 servants and your majesty to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and 317 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:51,280 confirm or establish for us the work of our hands. Yes, Lord, establish the work of our hands. 318 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:56,240 Listen, that generation that came out of Egypt, yeah, they grumbled. They were disobedient, but 319 00:32:56,240 --> 00:33:02,160 they suffered greatly. Many of the days were there were their affliction, Moses says. And once again, 320 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:07,520 he now asked for God's grace in the midst of that suffering. In fact, he says, Lord, by your mercy, 321 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:14,800 grant us as many days of gladness as we've had in affliction. And if we must die in the wilderness, 322 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:19,840 then give us the fullness of your favor now so that however many days you have to live, 323 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:24,960 so that however many days we have left, we can enjoy your favor. He's appealing for God's 324 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:32,560 compassion and mercy and grace. Do they deserve it? Absolutely not. It's really quite beautiful. 325 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:39,760 All right, so how do we summarize all this, right? How do we summarize this? I have some thoughts. 326 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:47,600 I know that's a surprise. I have to admit that studying this Psalm this week hit me like a ton 327 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:53,760 of bricks because it caused me to do a whole lot of reflection on the years that I've had 328 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:59,760 in my life to look back and say, Lord, have I really numbered my days? And I think this is true 329 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:04,960 of everyone who's here this morning that's around my age, but it's going to be true of every single 330 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:14,160 person in this room at some point. One day you're 17 and you plan for some day. And then 331 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:21,760 you wake up one day and some day is today. And then you blink again and some day is now yesterday. 332 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:24,720 And then you blink one more time and you can't even remember yesterday. 333 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:31,680 And I know that's funny. I'm not even joking, right? If you're my age, you get it. You're like, 334 00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:39,920 how did this happen? But this is man's life on earth. It's fleeting. The New Testament says it 335 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:46,080 too. Your life is a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. And during 336 00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:52,320 the years of that mist, we are going to experience many, many moments of sadness and frustration and 337 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:59,360 failure and yes, death because of our sin. Some of it will be your sin. Some will be sin that 338 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:04,720 belongs to others, people you love. But overall, as you get older, you recognize 339 00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:11,840 that this life is messed up. It's just not how it should be. And the older you get, the more you see 340 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:17,840 it. Now, again, we can spend all kinds of energy trying to deny that reality and just live like 341 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:24,240 with blinders on, rationalizing the idea that if I just had a little more money or just work a little 342 00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:30,240 bit harder at it, that I can find satisfaction and fulfillment here on the earth. You can live in that 343 00:35:30,240 --> 00:35:35,280 type of self-deception or you can listen to the wisdom of God and His word. You can trust what He 344 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:41,680 says about life and eternity and you can seek satisfaction and fulfillment in Him alone. 345 00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:47,280 And that's the path of wisdom. Now, what does that look like? It means that while we're here on the 346 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:52,960 earth, first of all, let me just say this. We can and should enjoy all the good gifts that come from 347 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:58,560 God's hand, right? He is a gracious God. He gives us many things that we can enjoy. The good gifts 348 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:03,680 as many things that we can enjoy. There are always, listen, always things that we can enjoy and be 349 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:10,000 thankful for. But at the same time, we also have to come to realize that this world is not our true 350 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:17,360 home, that this is not our culture, that we don't fit. We're aliens and strangers passing through 351 00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:24,000 this culture is not ours. And we're searching for a greater prize. We're searching for an eternal home 352 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:29,200 where all of the frustration and the futility and the sin are done away with and where we will 353 00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:35,280 finally find eternal rest for our souls. That's the prize. And as we lift our eyes to Christ into 354 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:40,480 heaven, listen, we don't despair of this life. I know that that's a whole thing now. Like we just 355 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:45,840 go around mopey all the time because everything looks like such a mess, but we don't despair of 356 00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:52,320 this life. Yes, we manage our expectations. We prepare for times of suffering and trial, 357 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:57,280 but we don't despair. In fact, quite the opposite. What we should do is see this time on earth, 358 00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:03,280 the days we're given as a great challenge. Flip this thing upside down, stop moping, 359 00:37:04,240 --> 00:37:09,680 see it as a great challenge. We see moments in history as a series of divine opportunities to 360 00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:15,440 love people and to serve and to care and to see God work in our lives and in the lives of those 361 00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:22,960 that we love. That's the challenge. And so therefore we number our days and we order our lives 362 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:31,440 according to that vision and purpose. There is no higher calling than that. That is true significance. 363 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:38,720 Responding to God's call in the time we're given on earth in such a way that we make an imprint on 364 00:37:38,720 --> 00:37:47,200 lives for all eternity. That is true significance. Amen. But this requires a heart of wisdom, Moses 365 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:53,280 says. It requires that we listen, that we learn. It's available to every believer who picks up 366 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:59,520 God's word, believes it and acts upon it. We need to be taught it. It means renewing our mind. It 367 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:04,320 means walking in the spirit. It means putting off the patterns of the old self and putting on the 368 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:11,600 righteousness of the new self. And one day you and I will sit at the judgment seat of Christ. 369 00:38:12,720 --> 00:38:16,240 I know this is harder for younger folks. I remember I didn't think about this for a long time. 370 00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:20,880 We'll sit at the judgment seat of Christ, not to be condemned, but to be rewarded 371 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:26,080 for our faithfulness. And on that day, our lives are going to be tested to see what we did with 372 00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:32,960 the gifts and the opportunities that he gave us in the time that we lived. Did they profit us or did 373 00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:39,360 they profit his kingdom? Will be the question. Was our labor motivated by personal gain or for his 374 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:47,280 glory? And since that day will come for all of us, let us decide today, right now, to labor and strive 375 00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:53,040 for the things that will last, not for the things that will pass away. Because that judgment seat is 376 00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:59,280 coming. I know that we all need a certain amount of worldly things to live and function down here. 377 00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:04,480 We can't separate from the world, but at the same time, let us keep in mind the words of John. 378 00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:10,560 John writes this. He says, children, it is the last hour. The world is passing away along with 379 00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:18,720 its lusts, but the one who does the will of God lives forever. The only things that God is going 380 00:39:18,720 --> 00:39:25,120 to reclaim off this planet are his word and his people. So those, there's your marching orders 381 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:32,160 in terms of setting your priorities, his word and his people. Avoid the things that waste your time 382 00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:38,640 and take you off that mission. Avoid those things. I know that's not easy in the time we live, 383 00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:43,600 but again, listen to the wisdom of Moses. Let Israel's experience in the wilderness teach us. 384 00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:48,800 It was written for our instruction so that we might not fall in that same way. 385 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:53,360 And I'll close with the same word that Paul gave to the churches in his day. Different time, 386 00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:58,080 same message, right? It's a good word for all believers in all generations. And if you don't 387 00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:03,760 believe what I've said today, believe what Paul says. Just two short passages. My dear brothers 388 00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:11,120 and sisters, be steadfast and immovable, always excelling in the Lord's work because you know that 389 00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:20,480 your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Pay careful attention to how you walk, not as unwise people, 390 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:27,600 but as wise, making the most of the time because the days are evil. So don't be foolish, 391 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:34,480 but understand what the Lord's will is. Amen. Let's bow our heads. 392 00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:43,680 Most high God, Adonai, I know that the day that we live in right now is different than 1500 BC 393 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:52,000 when Moses wrote this Psalm. And yet God, man doesn't change and you don't change. And so this 394 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:58,960 is a good word for today. And so Lord, we first of all praise you for being our refuge. 395 00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:06,480 In this generation and God, we, we acknowledge that we deserve your wrath 396 00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:14,880 because we've all sinned and fallen so short of your glory, Lord, but you are a gracious God to 397 00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:21,040 those who trust in you. And so we pray for your compassion. We pray for your grace in our lives 398 00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:25,840 and we pray for those we know and love that don't know you Lord, who stand unto your wrath, even 399 00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:29,680 right now and pray God that you would draw them to yourselves and save them. 400 00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:38,560 Father teach us to understand our mortality, to number our days and to make the most of the time 401 00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:46,560 that you've given us. God, we pray, satisfy us with your faithful love. We pray that you will 402 00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:53,360 be glad in the days that we're given. God help us to order our lives, help us to seek significance 403 00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:58,880 in the days that we're giving so that there might be an imprint for all the eternity on lives. 404 00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:02,480 People that we love, people that we serve and care for. 405 00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:08,480 God, we acknowledge that we can do none of this in our own strength. We need your spirit. 406 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:14,800 So God, for those of us who know you here at Oak Hill, I pray that your spirit would fill us and 407 00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:21,600 empower us to do the ministry that you have for us in this time. Thank you Lord God for your word. 408 00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:29,120 Convict us, encourage us and help us to worship well in the time we have left this morning. 409 00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:38,080 We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.