Let us turn to God's Word again
in that psalm that we read, Psalm 90. And drawing your attention
for a while this morning to the words that we find here at verse
12. Psalm 90, 12. So teach us to
number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom or as
the margin as the reading that we may cause our hearts to come
onto wisdom. So teach us to number our days that we may cause our hearts
to come onto wisdom. to consider then something of
the finiteness of man, the truth of his mortality, as it is said
before us here in the prayer of Moses. And simply to consider
the two clauses that we find in this particular verse, just
observing two things as it were, the numbering of days, and the
causing of the hearts to come to wisdom as we come to realize
how short our time is here in this mortal life. First of all then to say something
with regards to the numbering of the days and surely we are
reminded of that when we come to the change of the year we
think of the year that has passed and how quickly it seems to have
flown by and now we begin another year of our short lives and as
we look back over the years we do see how time increases its
pace it would appear of course it doesn't really but that's
how it seems to us as we live these lives in the world And
yet, we know that the natural man seems to live his life as
if he's going to be here forever. There's no thought really of
the shortness of the time. But here we're reminded that
all our days are truly numbered by the Lord God Himself. And
so, two particular truths as we come to think under the subject
of the numbering of our days. There is the matter of divine
sovereignty as we see it here in this verse, but also the importance
of prayer and supplication and seeking God and crying to Him. But first of all the divine sovereignty
Here is the man Moses and he's uttering a prayer to his God
and he asks God to teach him. So, teach us. The word us here is in italics. It's really a personal prayer.
Although it's part of God's Word, it's very much a prayer of Moses.
He is the one who is asking that God would teach him to number
his days. And in making such a prayer as
that, of course, we're brought to realize that God is that one
who is sovereign with regards to all the days of our mortal
life. We think of the words of the
wise man, the preacher there in the book of Ecclesiastes,
to everything there is a season, the time to every purpose under
heaven, the time to be born, and the time to die, says Solomon. And this is God's appointment.
It's a manifestation of the absolute sovereignty of God that there
are all these seasons under His immediate control. The apostle
to the Hebrews says it is appointed unto men once to die and then
cometh the judgments all things are appointed of God many divisives
in a man's heart says the wise man nevertheless the counsel
of the Lord that shall stand and when we go back to the beginning
as we have that record there in the opening chapters of the
book of Genesis what do we read in the sixth chapter of verse
three that man's days are to be 120 years. His days shall
be 120 years." Now, that is not a statement with regards to the
term of man's life in the context. It is speaking of the period
of time that God will then grant men that they might come to repentance. In that sixth chapter, of course,
we read of how matters were so evil in the world. Every imagination
of the thought of man's heart was evil continually. And he
repented the Lord God that he had made man upon the face of
the earth. And he appoints a period of some
120 years. wherein they may have space for repentance. As I said,
he's not there then declaring what will be the term of man's
lives. We know the previous to that. Men did live to a great
age. In the previous fifth chapter,
at verse 27, we read of the man Methuselah, who lived to the
age of 969 years. Men were living great lengths
of time. But God is going to judge the
world. That's what we're discovering
there in that sixth chapter of Genesis. He's going to visit
a universal flood. He's going to destroy man from
off the face of the earth. He will in his grace and his
goodness preserve a man, Noah. And so there will be a people
on the face of the earth even after that terrible judgment.
But it is evident that God is the one who is sovereign concerning
all men. And subsequently, of course,
to the flood, men do not live to that great age anymore. And here, in the 10th verse,
we're reminded of what is the allotted space for man's lives
now, the days of our years, our three score years and ten. if
by reason of strength they be forced go years, yet is there
strength, labour and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we
fly away. All man's allotted span. Now
Job, Job was mindful of that himself in the midst of all his
trials, all his troubles, all the mystery of God's providences.
What does he say there in the 14th chapter? Man that is born
of woman is of few days, of few days, and full of trouble. He goes on, seeing his days are
determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast
appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. Oh, how these men,
Job, Moses, they all have to learn the absolute sovereignty
of God, It is Moses, of course, who as the Lord's servant is
so evident there in the book of Exodus as the children of
Israel are delivered from the bondage that was Egypt. But what
does the Lord God say to Israel in Exodus 23-26? The number of
thy days I will fulfill. God is sovereign with regards
to all our days and every moment of our lives. And we come again
to those words of the preacher in Ecclesiastes 3, to everything
a season, a time, to every purpose under heaven. So teach us to
number our days. But as there is that recognition
of the divine sovereignty and the absolute sovereignty of God,
It's interesting that it's manifested, it's expressed here in prayer. If we really do believe in the
sovereignty of God, we will recognize the great significance of prayer. Because this is how God is pleased
to accomplish all his goodwill and pleasure. I will yet be inquired
of by the house of Israel to do it for them, he says in Ezekiel. I will increase them with men
as a flock." We have those words at the end of the 36th chapter
and then that remarkable vision in chapter 37 where God indicates
that he is going to restore them as a great army and bring them
out of the bondage that they've been in when in captivity in
Babylon. But he would be inquired of.
He says through Isaiah to Israel concerning the works of my hand,
command ye me." Oh, if we really are those who believe in the
sovereignty of God, we must be a praying people. We understand
the significance of it. And what do we have here? We
have a prayer, the prayer of Moses, the man of God. And who was the one who had so
much to say with regards to the significance and the importance
of prayer? none other, of course, than the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. And the words that we have there
in the Gospel, Luke 18, He spake a parable unto them, to this
end that men ought always to pray, and not to faint, saying,
There was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded
man, and there was a widow in that city. And she came unto
him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for
a while. But afterward he said within
himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man, Yet because this
widow troubleth me, I will avenge her. Lest by her continual coming
she wear him. And the Lord said, Hear what
the unjust judge saith. Here is the point of the parable,
you see. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day
and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you
that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of
Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Or that we might
have faith that is evident in our praying, and our calling,
and our seeking, and committing all our cares and concerns to
him? Now there's many exhortations
in the Epistles of the Apostle. Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ,
what does he say? Pray without ceasing. Continue instant in prayer and
watch in the same with thanksgiving. Time and again he's exhorting
then the importance of prayer. And what we have here in the
text is very much a petition. So teach us to number our days. This is the gist really of his prayer. He wants God to teach him something. And what is it that he wants
to be taught? To number his days. To count his days. It's interesting this petition
when we examine it somewhat more carefully and closely. Remember,
when we come to the New Testament, when Paul writes to the Philippians,
there in chapter 4 and verse 8, he's exhorting them to think. He says, think on these things,
and he mentions those worthy things, those profitable things.
that men, certainly the people of God, should be thinking upon. The language that we have in
chapter 4 and verse 8, finally brethren, says, Paul, whatever
things are true, whatever things are honest, or venerable as the
margin says, whatever things are just, whatever things are
pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report,
if there be any virtue. And if there be any praise, think
on these things. The importance of thinking. We recently were looking at those
words in Malachi concerning them that fear the Lord as they spake
often one to another. and remember how the Lord hearkened
and heard it was them that feared his name or them that feared
and thought upon his name to think but those words that we
just read in that fourth chapter of Philippians and the particular
verb that he's using there to think think on these things it
literally means to count count on these things, or reckon these
things. And the amazing thing is that
the same word is used in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ as He
accomplishes that work that the Father had committed to Him by
His obedience unto the death of the cross. In Mark 15 and
verse 28 the Scripture was fulfilled and He was numbered with the
transgressors. And that verb there, numbered,
is exactly the same that we have in Philippians 4.8 where it's
rendered to think, to think to number, to count, to reckon over. That's the idea with this word.
So it teaches us to to number our days, to think over our days, to ponder, the days of our lives revolving things over in the
mind as it were and of course we see that in scripture there
is certainly an emphasis upon the necessity of meditation when
we come to the word of God it's not just a matter of of studying
the Word of God that's good and that's profitable of course to
be familiar with it and to understand it but it's it's not enough just
to have an intellectual appreciation we need to be much in the Word
of God and meditating in the Word of God and again the significance
of words and the words that we have in Holy Scripture when we
say that we have this high doctrine of Scripture, and we believe
in its divine inspiration, it's the very Word of God. And the
beauty of our authorized version with its attempt to be a very
literal rendering of what's there in the original autographs. In
the Hebrew of the Old Testament, the Greek of the New Testament,
their desire to give an exact translation and not just a paraphrase. And when we come to the Old Testament
and to the Book of Psalms we see how many times there are
references to meditation. And two words are normally used
with regards to that meditation. Two words that are in an authorized
version translated by the word meditate. The one word has the
basic idea of muttering, to mutter. The other word that's usually
rendered meditate has the idea of musing, to muse. And I'll
give you just two examples. In Psalm 77 and verse 12, the
psalmist says, I will meditate of all thy works, and talk of
all thy doings. I will meditate, literally I
will mutter. I will mutter of all thy works
and talk of all thy doings. You see, you have those parallel
statements muttering and talking. That's the meditating there,
it's talking really. But it's that muttering to oneself.
And of course we see it so clearly in Psalms 42 and 45, where we have
those soliloquies. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted with
him? The Psalm is talking to himself, muttering to himself,
addressing himself, addressing his own soul, encouraging his
soul, in the midst of all his trials, hope thou in God. He
says to himself, I shall yet praise him who is the house of
my countenance and my God. All there is to be that muttering
there, associated with meditation. Muttering over all the works
of God, all the things that God has done in our lives, all those
strange things that have come to us, that we cannot fathom,
talking them over with God as it were. and talking with him of his doings. Are we that familiar with him?
Do we make that such a significant part of our praying when we come
to him? We just open our hearts and tell him everything. But
then, as I said, there's another word that's often translated
meditate. It's not the same verb, it's
not that verb to mutter, but the word TAMUZ and we see it
many times in the 119th Psalm which of course is a celebration
of the word of God as we know it's an acrostic poem built around
all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and many times there
David says I will meditate in thy precepts or thy statutes
I will meditate And the word literally means to ponder, to
reflect, to muse, to muse. I like the word muse. Of course, we have the word amusement,
don't we? People like to amuse themselves. And I don't know, maybe you do
sometimes look at the etymology of words, but that's an interesting
word, to amuse ourselves. because the A at the front of
that word, of course, is really a negative. To be amusing ourselves means
that we're not musing. And the definition that we have
in the Oxford English Dictionary is this, that we divert from
serious business with trifles. That's what we do when we amuse
ourselves. We divert from serious business with trifles. We don't think seriously. We
stop thinking really. We just want to enjoy ourselves. We don't want to face up to the
solid matters of life. So teach us to number our days,
says the man of God. So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. or pause my soul
and ask the question, are they ready to meet God? Am I made
a real Christian, washed in the Redeemer's blood? Or do we mutter
to ourselves like that and address our own souls concerning these
matters? We want to learn the truth of
our mortality. And you can teach us that we
are but mortal. We're here just for a little
season. It is God who must teach us to know what we are, and that
we are but men and women, creatures of a day, really. All are of
the dust, and all turn to dust again, says the preacher in Ecclesiastes. O earth, earth, earth, hear the
word of the Lord. That's how God's faithful servant,
the prophet Jeremiah, addresses Judah in his day. He tells them what they are.
Oh, earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. We sang that hymn of Ansteel's
just now, and I was struck, I've often been struck by that verse
eternally. Tremendous name. To guilty souls
a dreadful wound, but oh, if Christ and heaven be mine, how
sweet the accents, how divine. We think then and muse upon our
mortality and the truth of a never-ending eternity, appointed unto men
once to die, and then comes the judgment. And what does God say
in his mercy and in his grace? I have heard thee in a time accepted,
In the Day of Salvation of Isochitl, behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is the Day of Salvation. Oh, you spared us to another
year of grace, the year of our Lord, Anno Domini, 2023. It's
still the Day of Grace, but are we those who would learn from
the man of God, from Moses here, And his prayer, his petition
to the Lord, so teach us to number our days, that we may apply our
hearts unto wisdom. Well, turning then to the second
part of the text, the applying of the hearts to wisdom, or causing
the hearts to come unto wisdom. What, or who is wisdom here? Well, surely in Scripture we
see quite clearly that wisdom is found only in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we see it there in the wisdom
literature, in the language of Solomon, a remarkable type of
the Lord Jesus, David's son, a type of David's greater son. And how We see the excellency
of wisdom there in the eighth chapter of Proverbs. Doth not
wisdom cry? And understanding put forth her
voice. Who is this one? Why, it's the
Lord. And see how he speaks. Verse
22, The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before
his works of old. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, whatever the earth was, When there were
no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. While as yet He had not made
the earth nor the fields nor the highest part of the dust
of the world, when He prepared the heavens, I was there. When
He set a compass upon the face of the sea, when He established
the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when
he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass
his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth,
then I was by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily
his delight, rejoicing always before him." All these words
of wisdom, it's the word of the Lord Jesus Christ and he is speaking
of himself. And what do we see here? We see
the eternal glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we also see
something of his mediatorial glory in those words of Proverbs
chapter 8. What is the essential glory that
belongs to Christ? It is that of his eternal sonship,
of course. And he says it twice there, doesn't
he? I was brought forth I was brought forth when there were
no depths I was brought forth. Before there were any mountains
abounding with water, any fountains abounding with
water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills, He
says, was I brought forth. Oh, eternally brought forth,
eternally begotten of the Father, whose goings forth have been
from of old, from everlasting His goings forth, Who shall declare
his generation? Ask the prophet there in Isaiah
53 concerning the Lord's suffering servant. Who shall declare his
generation? The mystery of it. That one who
is the eternally begotten of the Father. The Word made flesh. The dwelt among us says John
and we beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten. of the Father, full of grace
and truth. This is his essential glory.
He is the eternal Son of God, the Son of the Father, in truth
and in love. And John says, Whosoever transgresses
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that
abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. or there can only be an eternal
father if there is an eternal son and so to deny his essential
glory the glory of his sonship is to deny the father to deny
the very doctrine of God himself but besides that essential glory
there is also the mediatorial glory, isn't there? When he says
there in that portion that we were reading in Proverbs 8, Then
I was by him, as one brought up with him. I was daily his
delights, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in the habitable
part of his earth. And my delights, he says, were
with the sons of men. My delights were with the sons
of men. Oh the Father you see in the
eternal covenant has given him that blessed work to accomplish
even the salvation of the sinful sons of men and how the Lord
engages in that work and as he engages in that work we know
how time and again the Father will acknowledge him. He acknowledges
him there at the baptising as Christ submits to John's baptism
of repentance to begin His ministry, now He has come as that One who
will save sinners who stand in need of repentance. He will be
exalted, the Prince and Saviour who gives repentance to Israel
and the forgiveness of sins. But as He comes forth Himself
out of those waters and the Father speaks from heaven, this is My
Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And then again there
in the Mount, the Mount of Transfiguration, this is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Hear ye Him. He has come as God's great prophet. He is the Word of God. He is
the one by and through whom the Lord God speaks. And he doesn't
simply speak the words of God, he accomplishes all the works
of God. Oh, he says, my meat is to do the will of him who
has sent me and to finish his work. There's a work to do. I
came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will
of him that sent me, he says. And he is rejoicing, you see,
in the habitable part of the earth. and his delights are with
the sons of men. He is the son of God but he's
also the son of man. And how Daniel has that remarkable
vision that is granted to him concerning this one there in
the seventh chapter of his book. What do we read? Verse 13, I
saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man
came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days,
and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him
dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and
languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which
shall not be destroyed. All this vision then of the Son
of Man who comes in the clouds of heaven. He is not simply the
Son of God. He is God's manifest in the flesh. He is that One who is the only
Saviour of sinners. And so what does He do? He identifies
all together with those sinners. He becomes bone of their bone,
flesh of their flesh. He's touched with the feeling
of all our infirmities. He was tempted in all points
like as we are yet without seeing. And there we see Him as that
One who comes to address the sinful sons of men. Again, we
have it there in the language of Solomon in the book of Proverbs,
in the very first chapter, how he addresses the people there
in verse 20 following, Wisdom crieth without. She uttereth
her voice in the street, she crieth in the chief place of
concourse, in the opening of the gates, in the city she uttereth
her word saying, O how Long ye simple ones, will ye lust implicitly,
and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.
Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my Spirit
unto you, I will make known my words unto you." And surely that
is a prophetic word, because those words are fulfilled in
the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, as we see it there, in
the seventh chapter of John where Christ is in Jerusalem, it's
a feast of tabernacles and he speaks of the glorious outpouring
of the Holy Spirit and he cries there in the great place of concourse
in the temple just as we read back in Proverbs 1 In John 7.37,
in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water. And then we have that
parenthesis. Verse 39, This spake he of the
Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for the
Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. What does he say back in Proverbs
1? Turn you at my reproof. Behold,
I will pour out of my Spirit unto you. I will make known my
words unto you. Now I've laboured the point,
but it's so important. The one who is here in our text
this morning is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
If we are those who within any measure enter into the prayer,
the petition of Moses, we must see it ultimately in terms of
the seeking and the longing after Christ. So teach us to number
our day that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom? That we may
cause our hearts to come unto wisdom? Or is that coming to
the Lord Jesus Christ? There is an application here,
you see. And the force, really, of the verb that we have in the
text to apply, is to cause to come. to cause our hearts to come. And what sort of a coming is
this? Well, it's not local, it's not physical. Surely we recognize
it is a spiritual coming. Doesn't James say, if any of
you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men
liberally and that breaketh not. Let him ask in faith. It's coming
to that wisdom. Or do we lack wisdom? Do we feel
it? Sometimes we feel, even though
we've professed the name of Christ, we feel there's a distance. The Lord seems to be far from
us. And we want to come to Him, we want Him to come to us. We're
lacking that sense of His presence, His nearness. If any man lack
wisdom, let him ask of God. God gives to all men liberally,
and abrideth not, all but to ask in faith. with nothing wavering. Again, what does James say concerning
that wisdom, the wisdom from above? First pure, then peaceable,
gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,
without partiality, without hypocrisy, Oh, isn't that the Lord Jesus
Christ? He is that wisdom. Of Him are
ye in Christ Jesus, says Paul, who of God is made unto us wisdom. Oh, there must be that coming.
And what does the Lord say? He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth in me shall
never thirst. Oh, the coming He's believing. That's what the Lord is saying
there in John 6. He that cometh is the same as he that believeth.
He that cometh shall never hunger. He that believeth shall never
thirst. It's that spiritual coming. It's
five. The substance of things hoped for. The evidence
of things not seen. And this is Moses of course.
that we're reading this morning, it's a prayer of Moses, it's
a word of God, yes, but it's Moses who's the human author
of it and we're told something, can't we, of the fate of that
man Moses, there in Hebrews 11 he endured and how did he endure
seeing him that is invisible all the future all that lies
before us is coming year if the Lord spare us through the year
it's all unknown to us it's all invisible to us but we look higher
we look to that God who is the invisible God we address our prayers to him
make our requests known to him we might learn as the days in
his goodness come and go we might number them all and be continually
applying our hearts unto this wisdom, looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ, enduring like Moses, seeing Him who is the invisible
God. Also teach us to number our days,
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom, cause our hearts
to come unto wisdom. that the Lord might come then
and bless to us his word and inscribe it upon our hearts this
day and all the coming days. May the Lord bless his word to
us this morning. time what an empty vapour it
is and days how swift they are, swift as an indian arrow flies
or like a shooting star in number 498