A Moment With Pastor Fred

O God our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home. Under the shadow of Thy throne. Still may we dwell secure; Sufficient is Thine arm alone, And our defense is sure.

That is Issac Watt’s summary of Ps 90 – a good psalm for us to meditate on this last Sunday of 2024. The psalm was written by Moses – most likely penned near the end of his life as God’s people were about to cross into the Promise Land. For 40 years the children of Israel wandered thru the dessert due to their disobedience. The nation had voted not to enter Canaan – fear drove out faith. God allowed them to suffer the consequences of that choice. They boarded a merry-go-round going nowhere till everyone over the age of 20 was buried. Their penalty – killing time. They marched without point or purpose leaving behind a trail of bones buried in the sand. No promised land – just desert sand. So, Moses penned this psalm about life’s brevity contrasted to God’s eternality instructing us on how to spend our time wisely.

Moses saw the useless years of his peers and didn’t want his life to be like that. Real satisfaction in life comes from doing the will of God. A new year is about to dawn. Moses helps us putting life in its proper perspective. In spite of its burdens and brevity – life is worth living when we live for the Lord. Our prayer must be, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

We number our years, but it is wiser to number our days. Of all the mathematical disciplines this is the hardest for us to do. God wants to teach us, but we must be teachable. Having a teachable spirit comes from seeing life’s brevity in contrast to God’s eternality along with the seriousness of sin and what must be done about it.