Number our days: The importance of living on purpose
Three to six months. This is what doctors recently told one of our parishioners after discovering advanced, aggressive cancer. As one might expect, the news landed like a sledge to the gut. In an instant, all of those things he had been putting off until next month or next year could wait no more, and the true value of his life’s endeavors and accomplishments became clear. Indeed, there are few things that bring our lives into clearer focus than confronting our own mortality. Suddenly, the extraneous stuff that wasted our time and usurped our energy and resources is no longer important. The stuff we did that we now regret becomes poignantly clear. And as those things boil away, we are ultimately left with the stuff that really matters.
The oldest psalm in the psalter, Psalm 90 was written by Moses at the end of Israel’s 40 years of wilderness wandering. As the next generation of Israel looked across the Jordan River toward the Promised Land, Moses was confronted by the knowledge that he would not be going with them (Numbers 20:12). This clarity compelled the great leader and prophet to address the nation in a series of farewell speeches recorded for us in the book of Deuteronomy and, in this psalm, to reflect upon the life of the people he led and pray for their future direction.
The first part of this reflection explored the sharp contrast between the eternity of God and the transience of mankind. “Lord, you have been our refuge in every generation…. From eternity to eternity, you are God,” Moses observed in verses 1-2, and in verse 4, he added, “For in your sight a thousand years are like yesterday that passes by, like a few hours of the night.” In contrast, in verse 3, he noted, “You return mankind to the dust” which blows away on the breeze, and in verses 5-6, he compared mankind to “grass that grows in the morning [but] by evening it withers and dries up.”
This recognition of life’s brevity, no doubt prompted by his own imminent mortality, compelled Moses to reflect upon Israel’s present and future. In the present, he lamented in verse 7, “we are consumed by your anger; we are terrified by your wrath.” In fact, for nearly four decades, Moses and Israel had been confronted by God’s anger and wrath every morning when they stepped out of their tents in the wilderness. The nation remained a stone’s throw away but unable to enter the Promised Land because of the sin they committed a generation earlier. Moreover, he continued in verse 8, “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.” God had not forgotten their guilt, and neither could they. As a result, their entire relationship with God – indeed, their entire existence – was dominated by his wrath. Hear the resignation of verse 9: “For all our days ebb away under your wrath; we end our years like a sigh.” One can almost feel the life-draining oppression, the overwhelming sense of impotence and defeat. And then, as if all that was not bad enough, in verse 10, he observed, “Our lives last seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty years. Even the best of them are struggle and sorrow; indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away.” At best, life under the wrath of God is brief and fleeting, and just as a bird that flies away leaves no footprint, everything that we may gain disappears at its end.
It therefore comes as no surprise that, as Moses turned his attention to his hopes and dreams for the future of his people, he longed for things to be different. Namely, he longed for the day when God’s wrath would be lifted, but he knew that if that was to happen, Israel would need to change. Instead of lamenting God’s wrath, he prayed in verse 13, “Turn and have compassion on your servants.” This was a prayer that God would show compassion, but it was also a call for all Israelites to throw themselves upon God’s compassion and mercy. They were to stop giving themselves to the sin and immorality that landed them in God’s wrath, stop hedging their bets with foreign gods, religious rites and regulations that they had assumed would keep them out of hot water. He continued in verse 14, “Satisfy us in the morning with your faithful love so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days.” That is, Moses asked God to fill his people with love so that they could experience, at last, joy and gladness. More, he added in verse 16, “Let your work be seen by your servants, and your splendor by their children.” Put another way, Moses hoped that, instead of wrath and lament, oppression and defeat, Israel’s life would be dominated by thanksgiving and praise because they both noticed and appreciated God’s work and character.
Finally, Moses prayed in verse 17, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; establish for us the work of our hands – establish the work of our hands!” It was, in essence, a plea for eternity. Moses prayed that Israel would find God’s favor and that, as a result, their works would be not just effective, but established. The Hebrew word actually means “firmly founded” or “enduring,” and this side of glory, this is the closest to eternity that we can get. Moses prayed that Israel’s works would last because he knew that the Israelites themselves – himself included – would not.
Given the choice between Israel’s present reality and the future for which Moses prayed, we would all choose the future, but how could Israel – how can we – change course so dramatically? The answer to that question is found in verse 12: “Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.” There are two keys this prayer.
First, Moses implored God, “Teach us to number our days carefully.” To number something implies that it is finite. Our lives will have a beginning and an end, and when we number our days, we confront that reality head-on. In fact, the UN in 2019 estimated that the average human will live 72.6 years. This equates to 26,516 days. At first glance, this number seems unfathomably, incomprehensibly large, but as Moses observed more than 3,000 (1,095,750 days, or more than 40 times the length of a single average human lifespan) years ago, it is barely a drop in the bucket of history, let alone the infinitude of eternity. In other words, while most people go to great lengths to avoid contemplating their mortality, Moses’ prayer insisted that contemplating our mortality is essential. And why?
Because, second, when we number our days carefully, “we may develop wisdom in our hearts.” The Hebrew word rendered “may develop” utilizes what is called a Hiphil stem to convey a sense of causation. The development and application of wisdom, then, is not a mere possibility. Rather, it is an absolute certainty when we deliberately, regularly, and carefully number our days.
But what is wisdom? The dictionary defines it as “the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment” (source: New Oxford American Dictionary), but this definition is alarmingly vague. Unfortunately, a more specific, more biblical definition is elusive. For instance, there are plenty of passages which extol the virtue and desirability of wisdom. 1 Kings 4:29-34, for example, tells of how “emissaries of all peoples… came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom.” In Proverbs 4:5-9, Solomon exhorted his son, “Wisdom is supreme – so get wisdom. And whatever else you get, get understanding.” He added in Proverbs 8:11 that it is better than jewels; in Proverbs 16:16 that it is “much better… than gold
But why is wisdom so desirable? We find reasons littered throughout Scripture. In Exodus 31:6, Bezalel and the artisans were given wisdom to build the tabernacle as God commanded. That is, wisdom enabled them to accomplish God’s work. In 2 Chronicles 1:10, Solomon requested wisdom so he could lead and judge God’s people. In 2 Chronicles 9:7, the queen of Sheba observed that the men of Israel were blessed to hear wisdom daily. In Ecclesiastes 7:19, the teacher exulted, “Wisdom makes the wise person stronger than ten rulers of a city,” and in Ecclesiastes 10:10, he added, “The advantage of wisdom is that it brings success.”
What is its essence? It is selfless (Proverbs 18:1), disciplined (Proverbs 19:15), and fragile (Ecclesiastes 10:1). It begins with the reverent, obedient fear of the Lord. The psalmist insisted, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his instructions have good insight. His praise endures forever” (111:10), and Solomon agreed, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline” (Proverbs 1:7). It ends with the reverent, obedient fear of the Lord. The wise king continued, “The fear of the Lord is what wisdom teaches” (Proverbs 15:33). Indeed, even in the midst of his suffering, Job realized, “The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom. And to turn from evil is understanding.”
And how do we obtain it? Finally, we return to the verse at hand, Psalm 90:12, and remember that we will develop wisdom when we carefully number our days, but how does that work? I want to submit that the process is really not complex. You see, when we carefully number our days, we inevitably confront our own finitudes, limitations, inadequacies, and sin, and when we realize these things, we are naturally inclined to look to God to fill the gap. Indeed, Job 28:23 reveals that “God understands the way to wisdom, and he knows its location.” Moreover, in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, we discover that, when we look to him, God sends his Spirit to reveal his wisdom and “the mind of Christ.” Indeed, if we only back up to 1 Corinthians 1:24, we realize that “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
When we carefully number our days, sooner or later, we are compelled to lean on Christ. He alone can forgive us for all the stupid, transient stuff we did before. He alone can empower us to do things that will truly endure in the days, months, and years to come. Ask him, and he will. And then choose to live from this moment on purpose according to the wisdom of God.