May it please almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in his holy word.
Let's turn to the book of Psalms and we'll turn to Psalm 90 and
we'll read verse 12. Psalm 90 and reading verse 12. So, teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. This 90th Psalm is titled, A
Prayer of Moses, The Man of God. And we read in that 78th Psalm
quite a chunk of the history in the world of when Moses was
involved And as we know, he wrote, of course, the first five books
in the Bible. And he wrote this psalm. We're
not sure whether there are any others, but anyway, it's a very
pertinent psalm and it's a prayer. And it again directs us to the
greatness of Almighty God. And I always think it's very
important for us to recognize the greatness of God. And he's
not a little God. He's an Almighty God. People
today tend to treat God as a little God. They don't seem often to
have that true reverence as they approach unto God, even in prayer. But what a blessing it is if
we realise we do have a God who is almighty. And Moses tells
us, and it's wonderful as he commences and says, There has
been our dwelling place in all generations. It's a wonderful
consideration, isn't it, to think of that. And it's so true that
ever since the creation of the world, God has been there throughout
every generation, generations which have been very blessed. Some generations have not been
so blessed and yet to realize God is still God today in our
generations. And the God's servant goes on
to say, before the mountains were brought forth, wherever
that has formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting
to everlasting thou art God and again that's a wonderful statement
and an encouraging statement and a statement that we should
remember and to be able to speak of our God as everlasting a God
who was never created it's beyond our understanding to recognize
that there is such a God but we should be thankful that we
have the Word of God which we know is true. Every word is true
in the word of God. And here we are told very clearly,
He's formed the earth and the world. That's wonderful, isn't
it? Even from everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God. Well, that's the God, my friends,
that you and I are privileged to be able to come to in prayer. The everlasting God. And what
a wonderful blessing it is. I often think, as we come to
that God, that triune God, God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit, and we come through the wonderful influence
of the Holy Spirit, and we come to God the Father, but we come
to God the Father and our Father through our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the one who presents our prayers to his
Father. What a wonderful blessing this
is. What a wonderful favour it is
that you and I can come to such a great and holy God, because
God the Father cannot look upon sin. He is holy, he's just, he's
righteous. And so how wonderful it is that
there was a Saviour, there was the Only Begotten Son of God
who was willing to come into this sinful world and to die
that sin-atoning death, to make that new and living way whereby
we can approach unto God the Father through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, may we truly rejoice in
that and therefore as we come to God in prayer again to remember
he is high and lifted up we are not to rush into his presence
although we know that he is always available to hear our prayer
in every time of need and he hears very simple prayers just
like Lord help me as much as he hears longer prayers my friends
we don't have to come and get dressed up to come to God we
can come to him exactly as we are and at any time well what
a great blessing that is and at every moment and all through
our life and so as we think of these words so teach us to number
our days We don't know how many days you and I have to live on
this earth. We've lived so many days up to
the present moment of time. We don't know how many more days
we've got before us. But here is a very striking statement. So teach us. We need to be taught. We need
to be shown. We need to be concerned that
there are those days ahead of us. And we don't want to waste
those days. We want to be found serving the
Lord. The Lord's placed us in this
earth at this time. We perhaps wonder why it is.
Well, God knows. God knows why you and I are on
this earth. I often think of, as I'm sure
you know, the case of Esther when Mordecai told her when she
was fearful of going into the king to place before him the
plight of the Jewish people. And he told her that she'd come
perhaps to that place for such a time as this. And you and I
in our little lives should also remember that we're placed on
this earth not by chance but ordained by Almighty God for
such a time as this. And so may we indeed be concerned
and desire to truly number our days and to not waste our days
but to be useful in those things which we do and those things
which we say. We should always realise that
we are God's servants. Some people think, of course,
that a servant of God is a preacher. Well, that's not true. It is
true. But also, all of God's children are his servants. And you and I, if we are a child
of God, are here on this earth to serve the Lord. And we should
desire to know what that entails in our life. We shouldn't just
wander on through life aimlessly. We should be concerned to be
found doing God's will and to realize that we are on this earth
for a divine reason. And what a blessing it is if
God sees fit to use us, perhaps in some very small way, But yet
how humbling to know that we have a God who has placed us
here for such a time as this. So, as Moses said, so teach us
to number our days with a desire to know what our days on earth
are for. Well, we don't live in an easy
day, do we? But if we're honest, I don't
think any day on the earth has been easy really for the church
of God. There's always been difficulties. There's always been opposition.
There's always been trials and temptations. But as the prophet
Isaiah tells us, ye are my witnesses. You and I on this earth are witnesses
for almighty God. And that's a very solemn and
striking statement, isn't it? and to think that we're here
for that divine purpose, to be a witness. And we should never,
therefore, hide our light. We're told, aren't we? We shouldn't
hide our light. The Word of God gives us that
description under a bushel. That means it's covered up. We
should desire that our light may shine in this dark world
in which we live, and that we may show forth the great and
glorious light of the Gospel. And never be ashamed of that
which God has done for us and that which God is doing for us. We read together in that 78th
Psalm a reasonably comprehensive list of what God did for the
children of Israel. And what a blessing it is that
it's listed down so that you and I can see how God was so
gracious to Israel and so many times they turned their back
upon him but again and again he forgave them again and again
he was gracious to them again and again he was merciful to
them as we read in the 107th Psalm where we're told in the
situation which Israel were in we're told they wandered in the
wilderness in a solitary way They found no city to dwell in.
That really means that we have no abiding place in this world
where sojourners, where pilgrims were passing through. It's not
our rest. We wander in the wilderness.
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble. and he delivered them out of
their distresses and he led them forth by the right way that they
might go to a city of habitation. So those words are repeated several
times in this 107th Psalm and we should be very thankful and
grateful that we have such a great, kind and gracious God who hears
our prayers, our cries as they go up to him and sends us answers
even whatever position I'm just going on for a moment he says
such a sit in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound
in affliction and iron and we may feel sometimes like that
we may feel that we're in darkness we may feel we're bound up and
we can't free ourselves and then the Word of God gives us a reason
because they rebelled against the words of God and contend
the counts are the most high therefore he brought down their
heart with labor they fell down and there was none to help well
thankfully the Word of God doesn't stop there it goes on therefore Then they cried unto
the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. We have today a prayer hearing
and a prayer answering God. So teach us to number our days.
Each day we should realise that we have a prayer hearing and
a prayer answering God. Whatever situation we find ourselves
in, Maybe deep waters, maybe a shallow situation, but there
will be times again and again when we need God and so we have
this promise. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness
and the shadow of death and break their bands in sunder. God is
a God who delivers his people. God is a God who hears and answers
prayer. And what a blessing it is to
have such a God. And if you and I have been blessed
with that experience and are able to recall and praise God
for his testimony, that's what the psalmist tells us then. Then they cried unto the Lord,
in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses,
he brought them out of darkness, and the shadow of death, and
breaking their bands in sunder, O that men would praise the Lord
for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children
of men, for he has broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars
of iron in sunder. You see, the devil would have
us Shut up! With iron bars, the gates locked
and shut, with no ability apparently to free ourselves. But the blessing
is we have a God who hears and answers prayer. We have a God. who does deliver. And that's
why we have this statement, so teach us to number our days. Yes, there will be days of darkness,
there will be days of distress, there will be days of difficulty,
but there will be days of deliverance. As we come and call upon the
name of God, And therefore there will be days of praise. There will be days of thanksgiving. And as believers, we want to
be able to trace out our spiritual life and see how God is leading
us and directing us. and our days, our days on earth
well says Moses so teach us to number our days that we may apply
our hearts unto wisdom and how important it is that we do apply
our hearts how important it is that we search out our spiritual
situation the Apostle Peter tells us some words of good understanding
in the his second epistle and in the first chapter he says
wherefore the rather brethren give diligence these days days
in our life we are to give diligence What a mercy it is if God gives
us that grace to be diligent. Give diligence to make your calling
and election sure, to have the evidence in our hearts that we
are a true believer. that we are a child of God you
see we are not to just go on aimlessly in our life and think
well I hope everything will work out all right when the Lord God
convicts us of our heart and the sins of our heart and also
perhaps the sins of our words the sins of our actions and that
brings us into a situation where we're far off from God Well,
we should realise the glorious words of the Gospel. If you and
I confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There is no sin too bad. We have the glorious examples
in the Word of God of Manasseh as a man and what a wonderful
account there was of him, how wicked he was, how evil he was
and yet you see the Lord turned him to seek unto the Lord and
in the second book of the Chronicles You can read the account of Manasseh
how God had mercy upon him. And my friends, God has mercy
upon his people. All of us, all of true believers
are brought in a situation and a condition where they have a
need. They have a need of forgiveness. That means they have a need of
a Saviour. What a blessing it is, therefore,
to be diligent in these things, to seek earnestly our calling,
the evidence of God's call when He's called us out of darkness
into the glorious light of the everlasting Gospel. And it is. It's a wonderful consideration
to compare darkness and light. They're complete opposite, aren't
they? The light and darkness are complete opposite. And so
it is in our spiritual life. We're in darkness until the glorious
light of the gospel shines. And there is then that wonderful
evidence of calling. And so here we have this statement.
So teach us to number our days and to number those days when
God appeared When God delivered us. When God heard our prayers. When it's good sometimes I think
to just note down those times of deliverance. The devil doesn't
want you and me to remember these times. He wants us to forget
about them. And perhaps cast doubt upon them. But the Word
of God many, many times encourages us to remember. Thou shalt remember
all the way the Lord thy God has led thee. What a good thing
that is. Because what does it do? It brings
honour and glory to God. And so, coming back to Peter,
when he said, Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make
your calling and election sure, for if you do these things ye
shall never fall, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you
abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. Wherefore, I will not be negligent
to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know
them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it
meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, that means in his
body, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. It's good
to remember all the way the Lord has led us. In those days when
God has been wonderfully gracious and merciful to us, perhaps the
most wonderful day is when God gave us a concern with regard
to the condition of our soul. It made us aware that we had
a soul. Made us aware that that soul
was never dying. And that we had to face our Maker,
Almighty God. And that gave us a concern. And that gave us a cry. And that gave us a prayer. What a day that was when God
gave us that prayer, God be merciful to me, a sinner. the grace of God, what a mercy
it was, what a blessing it was. So teach us to number our days. I wonder how many days can you
and I number in our spiritual life? Days of blessing, days
of favor, days of instruction, days of correction, sometimes
we don't like to be corrected but you see God does instruct
us in that way and he shows us perhaps the error of our ways
and brings us to a day of humble confession of coming and laying
our case before our God realizing that we stand before God exactly
as we are we can't hide You can't hide anything from God because
God looks right into our heart, right into our mind. He knows
every thought. Other people don't, but God does. And therefore, what a mercy it
is to be able to come to this God. What a day that is when
God gives us that grace to come and commit our way unto the Lord
and to Seek for his mercy and then a day when God brings us
that good hope that it is well with our soul. What a day that
is! So teach us to number our days,
don't pass them away. Don't forget about them. Realize
they are days of mercy, days of love, days of compassion. And so Moses goes on to say that
we may, through this wonderful revelation or consideration or
remembrance, so that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. And now, of course, he's referring
here to spiritual wisdom, spiritual understanding. God brings us,
therefore, to realise the wonderful and glorious plan of salvation,
and to realise the necessity of the Saviour coming into the
world to save sinners. A time, a blessed day, when Christ
was revealed to our hearts as the all-sufficient saviour of
sinners. What a mercy we have such a God. We're not cast on the rubbish
heap as somebody of no value. But we are those for whom Christ
died. He gloriously condescended to
pay the price, to redeem us from all our sins. That great and
wonderful blessing to set our feet upon a rock, to establish
our goings, put a new song in our hearts, even praise unto
our God. It's a great blessing, isn't
it? If God has put such a concern and given us revelations so that
we do have days. So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom and God gives us
then that spiritual wisdom to observe the wonderful plan of
salvation. It's a plan that you and I will
never be tired of hearing about. We just touched on it, didn't
we, in that 78th Psalm, the great wonderful deliverance of Israel
of old brought out of Egypt. Yes, on that great night of the
institution of the Passover, when the lamb was slain, the
blood was shed, put on the doorposts and the lintels, and there was
safety. to be under the blood, and it's exactly the same today.
You and I must be under the blood. We must know that Lord Jesus
Christ has died for us on the cross at Calvary. And perhaps
we could say this, when that is shown to us, when we understand
it, what's happened? The light from heaven has shone
into our hearts. There was darkness. The light
shone. The glory of the Gospel was revealed
to us. We could rejoice in the plan
of salvation. We could rejoice in the amazing
work of the Saviour, in coming to save such an unworthy sinner
as we are. Well, What a day that was. What wisdom God gave to us to
understand the plan of the Gospel. It's good, isn't it, to understand
the plan of the Gospel. You know, we have the account,
don't we, in the Word of God of the Queen of Sheba, who came
to see the wisdom of Solomon. And well,
she was amazed at what she saw. And the word of God tells us
in the Gospel of Matthew about the position there. We're told the Queen of the South
shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall
condemn it for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater than Solomon
is here. Yes, the Saviour was greater
indeed than Solomon. And what a wonderful thing, therefore,
if that has been revealed to us. Well, it'll be a great mercy,
won't it? Again, we were told in this 12th
chapter about Jonah. You may remember about Jonah.
For if Jonah was three days and three nights in the world's belly,
so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise
in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it because
they repented at the preaching of Jonas and behold a greater
than Jonas is here. So what a gain of mercy it is
if we've been given the wisdom and we've been blessed with this
wonderful day of revelation when the Holy Spirit zinns into our
hearts and shown to us the wonder of these accounts in the Word
of God that account of Jonah See how it simulated that glorious
occasion when the Savior went into the depths of hell for those
three days. What a mercy it is. What a mercy
we have such descriptions in the Word of God. And how we have
these things described to us. So that those things which may
appear very mysterious, then as we read on, This is the blessing,
my friends, of reading the whole Word of God. And you know I encourage
you to read the whole Word of God and to, you know, not just
read something which tickles your fancy, but to start at Genesis
and work your way right through to Revelation and then start
again. Do it again and again. Never
stop reading consecutively the Word of God. You will never regret
it. You will always find it beneficial. you will always find it profitable
because again and again you will find as you read again you didn't
realize that was explained in such a place perhaps some almost
we might say remote place you would never expect it you see
God has given you and me his word and what a blessing it is
to have the whole word of God right from Genesis to Revelation
and how it all fits together so wonderfully and so beautifully. And so says Moses. Moses had some view of it, some
sight of it. And we of course now have the
benefit of all the New Testament and of course all the prophecies
after Moses. Remember that Moses of course
didn't have a Bible. He didn't have anything to refer
to. But God was his instructor. And he had conversations with
God. He was very blessed. And all
that that he was able to hear, he wrote down under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God. And we today are able to recall
that and to be blessed with it and to thank God for it. And
so here we have this wonderful statement. So teach us. Moses
knew much. He knew much. but he's still
wanting to be taught. He still wants to be taught.
It's good to have a teachable spirit. I hope none of us come
to that position where we say, well, I know it all, I don't
need anything else. If you think you know it all,
you've got a lot to learn. But what a blessing it is when
we come to God and pray that he will give us a teachable spirit
and give us understanding of the great truths contained in
the Word of God, so that we can indeed rejoice in it. Well, it's a great blessing,
isn't it, to know this. we don't want to be like... we
have that description of that rich man in the Gospel of Luke
who was confident of what he got and we're told in the 12th
chapter and the 20th verse we're told these things or perhaps before that We're
told then that the Lord spoke a parable unto them, saying,
the grand of a rich man brought forth a bunt plentifully. And
he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do? Because I have
no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do.
I will pull down my bounds and be a grater, and there will I
bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul,
thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease,
eat, drink and be merry. And it's possible to come to
a position where we become confident with our knowledge of the word
of God. And we take our ease and perhaps
don't read it as we should. What did God say? Thou fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose
shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that
layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. What a blessing, my friends,
if you and I lay out for ourselves treasures in heaven. And the
treasures in heaven is really counts in the glorious knowledge
of the Saviour. Yes, to realise the glorious
work He did and how satisfactory it was to the Father. And our hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Well, says Moses here, so teach
us. It's good to have a teachable
spirit, to fall down before God and say that he will instruct
us, and he will. We have a God who's kind and
gracious. We may not be very good students, but God's very
patient, and he does come alongside us and encourage us So teach
us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom,
that eternal wisdom, which is indeed the gift of God. We're told the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. And what a mercy, therefore,
if you and I have been given that godly fear of the Lord as
the evidence of the beginning of heavenly wisdom. and to rejoice
in it and praise God for it. So here we have this wonderful
word. So teach us, you and me, to number
our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Amen.