Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Psalm 90
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  December 31, 2019

How have you used your time this past year? Did you accomplish what you intended? Did you make progress toward meeting your goals? Do you feel more secure and satisfied than you did 12 months ago? If we go further back, say ten years…how would you answer those questions and accomplishment and progress? Go back twenty years if you have enough. How have you spent your time? Would you do things differently if you could? How about looking forward to 2020? What do you intend to do? Do you have your resolutions written down? How about ten years from now, where do you see yourself? How about your legacy? What will your work and your influence give to the generations to come? How will you use the time you have left?

Of all the gifts God has given to us perhaps the most precious and the most difficult to manage is time. We have so little of it and so many things on which to spend it. This limitation of time is behind so many ailments in our modern world. Have you ever heard of FOMO? It’s the fear of missing out, so many things which we want to experience, but a limited amount of time makes us fear missing out! Time limitations cause severe stress and anxiety like nothing else. Too much to do, not enough time to do it. And then we get behind and feel worse! Or there is so much to do, we don’t know where to start and have this sort of paralysis which leads to more stress and anxiety! Time limitations cause the midlife crisis, as  middle-aged adults become aware of the finality of their life and their choices in relation to the limitation of time left.

But I don’t want to spend all my time tonight talking about how we don’t have enough time. God put 24 hours in a day so that is enough, even if we might like a few more. And he has measured out the years of our lives as well, so that is enough, even if we might like a few more. Tonight as we think about how to spend our time, let’s learn from the one who holds all our time in his hands. And there is no better place to go in the Bible when it comes time than Psalm 90.

Psalm 90 breaks down clearly into three sections: Verses 1-2, 3-11, and 12-17. The first section proclaims God and his eternal nature. The second section describes the brevity of human life. The third section is a prayer that springs from the first two sections. I’d like to discuss them in that order.

Moses writes: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world,  from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Moses starts with the basics. God created the world. Therefore, he must pre-exist the world. So before our earth, before our universe, before matter as we understand it, God existed. And Moses knows that God will continue to exist far after this earth passes away. God is, was, and always will be; from everlasting to everlasting he is God. This first section of the psalm sets up the second section as God’s eternality sits in stark contrast with the brevity of human life.

You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.” 4 A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. 5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—they are like the new grass of the morning: 6 In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered. 7 We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. 10 Our days may 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. 11 If only we knew the power of your anger!  Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due. Consideration of the second section is perhaps the key to the entire psalm. It focuses on God’s wrath against our sin as the cause for the brevity of our lives. We see this especially in verses 7-9. The section ends with the understanding that God’s anger at sin is justified by his holiness. It is consistent with the fear, or respect, he deserves. It is only logical that an immortal, holy God would not want his creation to exist in sin forever. We should respect that and respect his decision to end our own lives someday. Our lives on earth are measured by God as is his right.

In reflecting particularly on this middle section, it appears to me likely that this prayer came out of the final months of Moses’ life. He has watched an entire generation of God’s people be swept away in his wrath due to their rebellion, and refusal to enter the land of promise. Given the count of the two censuses in Numbers (chs 1 and 26), it is likely that Moses witnessed the death of some one to two million people during that forty years. On average that would be 70-140 people dying per day; day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. No wonder Moses speaks in terms of them being swept away like a flood. That image of an entire generation brought to an end by the wrath of God anchors the psalm.It is not just the generation lost in the wilderness, but every generation of God’s people that comes on the scene and then just as quickly is swept away, including our own. 

We often think things are infinite. We assume we will have one more chance. We will meet one more person. We will have one more church service. But our earthly experience is finite. Even as I speak to you about this I know many of you understand this much better than I do, because you know if from experience. I do begin to realize it more now that I have children though. I was looking at a few pictures of Solomon yesterday and I realized that his years as a baby are done. In the midst of it, I figured I’d never want another sleepless night of bottle feeding, but now that it is not an option, I miss it. Life isn’t a video game that you can always start over. Our time is precious on earth, because it is finite. And more than anything, we want to live our short lives meaningfully.

This universal longing sets up the prayer which is the final section of the Psalm.  Moses says, Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,  for as many years as we have seen trouble. 16 May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children. 17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands. “Teach us to number our days” This is precisely what the poem as a whole—with its powerful images representing the limitations of human existence over against God’s eternal being—is driving at. To count our days as God counts them: this is wisdom. Great wisdom—great, life-revolutionizing wisdom— comes from living our lives in light of eternity! And this is the great comfort that God gives to you this New Year’s Eve. In his righteousness God refuses to let us live in sin forever, but in his great love he became our sin that we might live forever in his righteousness. Jesus gave his life so that you would not have to despair over time wasted and time taken away. From everlasting to everlasting God chose to love you. So don’t worry about what you experience or don’t experience here on earth. Don’t worry if you haven’t traveled as much as you’d like or you didn’t have the career you dreamed of. The finite experience you have on earth, in light of eternity, is like the blink of an eye. Every moment lived in faith is a well-spent, no matter how it may look or feel in the moment.  

There is so much here in this last section. But let’s look at the last line bin closing. Moses says, “Establish the work of our hands.” Moses knows that all his striving, all his years of leadership, all the strain and stress, all the love, all the labor he has given, will not amount to anything unless the Lord establishes it. Everything on this earth will pass away, but everything done for the Lord and his kingdom will last forever. Anything done to God’s glory is not time wasted, because that glory is everlasting. Whether it’s washing dishes or writing sermons, if you do it out of thanks to God, it is time well spent! Enjoy this life, as fleeting as it may be, because in faith the work of your hands is established forever. Each church service, every diaper changed, every second of prayer, is time invested in eternity if it is done to God’s glory. So enjoy it, there will be crosses and hardships, but a life lived in faith is a life established forever. A life entrusted to God from everlasting to everlasting is well-invested. 

Amen.