[0:00] Let's now turn to the book of Psalms. I'm reading at Psalm number 90, the 90th Psalm.
[0:20] The book of Psalms and Psalm 90, reading at the beginning.
[0:35] A prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.
[0:56] Though turnest man to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
[1:11] Thou carryest them away as with a flood. They are as as sleep. In the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
[1:23] In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up. In the evening it is cut down and withereth. For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
[1:37] Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins, in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath.
[1:51] We spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten. And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is there strength labour and sorrow.
[2:08] For it is soon cut off and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
[2:20] So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Return, O Lord, how long? And let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
[2:34] O satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
[2:51] Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. And establish thou the work of our hands upon us.
[3:05] Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. Amen. And may God bless to us that reading from his holy word.
[3:18] To his name be all the praise. Let us further sing to his praise this time in Psalm 27. And verses 1 to 5.
[3:30] Psalm 27. Verses 1 to 5. The Lord's my light and saving health, who shall make me dismayed?
[3:44] My life's strength is the Lord, of whom then shall I be afraid. When as mine enemies and foes, most wicked persons all, to eat my flesh against me rose, they stumbled and did fall.
[3:56] Against me, though on host in camp, my heart yet fearless is. Though war against me rise, I will be confident in this. One thing I of the Lord desired, and will seek to obtain, that all days of my life I may within God's house remain, that I the beauty of the Lord behold me and admire, and that I in his holy place may reverently enquire.
[4:24] For he in his pavilion shall me hide in evil days, in secret of his tent me hide, and on a rock me raise.
[4:34] These stanzas, verses 1 to 5, of Psalm 27. To God's praise, the Lord's my light and saving health. The Lord's my light and saving health, who shall make me dismayed?
[4:59] My life's strength is the Lord, of whom then shall I be afraid.
[5:10] When I was my enemies and woes, woes wicked persons all, to eat my flesh against me rose, this dumb will land it fall.
[5:35] Against me, though I'm lost and calm, my heart get fearless as is.
[5:50] Though war against me rise, I will be confident in this.
[6:02] One thing I hope the Lord desire, and will seek to obtain, that all days of my life I may within God's house remain, that I, the beauty of the Lord, the old day and am I, and that I in his holy place, may repent and be inquired.
[6:52] For he in his pavilion shall be heightened, and evil days.
[7:05] In secret of his tent he hide, and on the road he raise.
[7:23] Now, as the Lord enables us, let us turn for a short time this morning to consider words from this portion of Scripture we've read in the book of Psalms.
[7:34] Psalm number 90. Psalm number 90. Particularly focusing on the words of verse 12.
[7:52] So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm number 90.
[8:06] We see at the beginning of this psalm, that it is a prayer of Moses, the man of God. And Moses had very close fellowship with God.
[8:28] It says that he spoke to him face to face, as a man speaketh unto his fellow or his friend.
[8:44] So Moses knew what it was to meet up with God, and to do business with God. And if you follow the history of Israel, having come out of Egypt, and spending all these years in the wilderness, you find repeated examples of Moses turning to God in prayer, in relation to the situations that he had to deal with, for these people of Israel.
[9:24] And it's not quite clear which time of Moses' life this prayer belongs to. Some people, like Matthew Henry and others, say that it may very well have been the time when the spies were sent in to spy the land of Canaan.
[9:46] And some of them came with a bad report of the land. And because of the congregation accepting the bad report, the Lord had said that they would not enjoy the fruits of the land of Canaan.
[10:05] They would die in the wilderness. And some people believe that it's at that time that this prayer was uttered by Moses. Others believe that it's quite near the end of the journeyings of the children of Israel, just shortly before they entered the land of Canaan, and that Moses uttered this prayer at that particular time.
[10:34] But whatever time it was, it's part of the Holy Scripture for us to meditate on and ask the Lord to lead us in it that we may be edified and taught and know his blessing.
[10:52] And there are just three things I'd like to highlight from the psalm as a whole. Firstly, at the very beginning of the psalm, Moses, the man of God, speaks about the greatness of God.
[11:08] He says, He begins his prayer with that acknowledgement, the greatness and the unchangeableness of God.
[11:39] But then secondly, as we go through the psalm, from verse 3 onwards, we find repeated mention made of the mortality of men.
[11:58] Verse 3, He's talking in different ways about man's mortality. It's as if he is contrasting God's glory and his eternal being with man's temporary and short life in this world. And thirdly, in a view of these two first points, that contrast between God who he is and man who he is, Moses from verse 12 onwards, gives us a succession of petitions in a prayer to God. Teach us to number our days. Verse 13,
[13:07] Return, O Lord, how long? Verse 14, Satisfy us early with thy mercy. 15, Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us. Verse 16, Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And verse 17, Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. Establish thou the work of our hands upon us. Yea, the work of our hands. Establish thou it. Now I know that's a large area of scripture, but I'd like just to mention one or two things in relation to each of these petitions that Moses is making in this particular psalm. First of all, what he says about God.
[13:59] And it's good for us to remember every day, but maybe particularly when we're reminding of the passing of years at a new year, that God is not changed. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
[14:24] God. He is the eternal one. He is unbegun and he is unchanging. God who does not change.
[14:40] But then we see at the very beginning of the psalm what Moses states, Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. It's as if he is reminding himself and the people to whom he's writing, well we are just journeying through this life and we need to have a place of abode.
[15:07] These people in these Middle Eastern countries, they will travel for a day, then erect their tent and sleep there and then when the morning came they will be up packing their tent and moving to the next place.
[15:24] They needed a place of abode. But what Moses here is saying, Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Our tents are but a temporary dwelling. Our real dwelling place, our real place of abode is the Lord himself.
[15:51] See what it says elsewhere in the scriptures regarding the Lord that he is a hiding place from the wind and a covered from the tempest. He is as rivers of water in a dry place and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
[16:12] Elsewhere it says this, that the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run unto it and are safe. In the midst of life's trials and afflictions, the storms of life, the heartaches and heartbreaks.
[16:31] To whom shall we go? Oh, Peter said, you have the words of eternal life. Friends may help us.
[16:43] Near and dear ones may be a source of strength and encouragement when the going gets tough. But really, Moses has found with his knowledge and fellowship with God that he is the dwelling place that he has to look to.
[17:07] And he is the same in all generations. He is an everlasting refuge. He is the one to whom the people of God look.
[17:19] To whom they go and they are received when they go trusting to him. The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.
[17:41] This New Year's Day isn't it wonderful wonderful to know that such a God exists and exists for all those who place their trust in him.
[17:55] Given the journey that we have to make through this life that he is our constant point of reference our unchanging and unchanging Lord and God.
[18:12] that's the first thing. But then of course after that Moses begins to speak about man's mortality.
[18:27] Verse 3 You turn man to destruction. Return ye children of men. We are not here permanently.
[18:37] the time comes when soul and body are to be separated and it is God who knows what time that will take place.
[18:52] Return you children of men. We don't know when he'll call us out of this world but he has a set time to call us away from this scene of time into eternity and Moses acknowledges that here and then verse 5 though carries them away as with a flood it's as if the tsunami like effect of death carries all before it Nicola Sturgeon the first minister said a couple of weeks ago that she expected the covid epidemic to be like a tsunami hitting our communities well there is a greater tsunami like flood coming and it will carry us all away thou carryest them away as with a flood they are as asleep in the morning they are like grass which groweth up in the morning it flourisheth and groweth up in the evening it is cut down and withereth for we are consumed by thine anger by thy wrath are we troubled you see our sin has brought us to this situation because very early in the history of mankind the soul that sinneth it shall die in the day that thou eatest of this fruit
[20:25] God said in the garden of Eden thou shalt surely die and we have the seed of death within each one of us however young we may be however healthy we may feel the seed of death is there and in God's foreordained time he will carry us away out of time into eternity Moses is a realist he knows that this is the way things are verse 9 for all our days are passed away in thy wrath we spend our years as a tale that is told somebody was talking about when someone tells a story winsomely and interestingly it's as if those who are listening to the story lose all sense of time and that's the way it is that's the way life is we spend our years and the years go on without us really realizing it but you think the thing is the days of our years are three score years and ten and if by reason of strength they be four score years yet is there strength labor and sorrow that is soon cut off and we fly away we are strangers before God and strangers as all our fathers were our days on earth are as a shadow and there is no one abiding and the apostle James says this what is your life it is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away these are solemn thoughts these are serious thoughts and Moses knows how serious and solemn they are but what is he going to do with this knowledge that he has got about the brevity of life the certainty of death what is he doing with that information he brings it in prayer to the Lord and that's my main point the third point we have here that there are seven petitions between verse 12 and the end of the psalm that I'd like to say one or two words about in view of the fact that we are journeying through life to a certain point where we must leave the world now
[23:31] Moses turns his face to the Lord and he prays verse 12 teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom that's the first thing he says we need to be taught to be serious about life we need to be taught to have the right priorities in our thinking in our outlook in our lifestyle what did Jesus say seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things will be added unto you but Moses says Lord you teach us in other words we really are ignorant of these priorities as we are by nature because sin has so dulled our minds and dulled our understanding of life and the details of life and existence that we need to be taught and who is the greatest of all teachers the Lord himself so teach us he says to the
[24:56] Lord to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom number our days he's not talking about arithmetic he's talking about priorities he's talking about being most in the main things that's one of the great covenanters who's being burnt at the stake and one of the things he was allowed to speak at the end before they lit the match and burnt him and he said I've been most in the main things I was a man called Donald Cargill burnt at the stake during the covenanting years and I've always been taken with the way he summed up the priorities of his life I've been most in the main things he was a man of prayer a man of bible reading a man of preaching a man of godly living he wasn't boasting but he was telling the world this is the way I measured my life and that's the way we ought all to do so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom ask the
[26:18] Lord to teach you in that way secondly in verse 13 it says return oh Lord how long return to us it's as if Moses is aware that the Lord has withdrawn his presence from these people and how forlorn must he have felt and how empty his life must have felt when he wasn't aware of the Lord's gracious presence with him and with the congregation and maybe that's a prayer you have in our day and in our generation that you're not at all aware of the Lord's presence the way you may once have been aware of the Lord's presence when you read the scriptures it's as if it came into your heart and comforted you and strengthened you and shed its light to scatter your darkness but now you don't experience the same and when you listen to newscasts and read maybe the newspapers there's hardly any reference with respect to the
[27:47] Lord in heaven as our maker and as our saviour there is so little time given with any respect at all to the scriptures of the Old and New Testament and Moses knew that the people over whom he was given charge to lead them out of Egypt into the promised land that they were an idolatrous people always complaining the Lord isn't doing this for us we should have died in Egypt and so on and so forth return oh Lord how long and let it repent to thee concerning thy servants may the Lord send grace into our hearts and into our communities may he send his power of revival and renewal and up building into our communities that we might know once again his power and his love shed abroad among young middle aged and elderly people but then he goes on verse 14 oh satisfy us early with thy mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all our days many are the things that people try in order to get satisfaction for themselves people work their hands to the bone they work day and night in order to build up a bank balance they work doing this that and the other thing to secure a healthy bank balance and a lavish lifestyle people try this and that and the other thing involving themselves so various aspects of worldliness trying to fill their souls with the things of this world world well you know these things will never ever ultimately satisfy the deepest need of your soul and mine what will satisfy us
[30:36] Moses knows he's a man who knew God face to face as a man knows his friend and a friend tells you things that you need to know and you take words of advice and direction from a friend whose advice you trust and the Lord had told him that the greatest way of having heart satisfaction and life satisfaction is to know the mercy of God in Jesus Christ satisfies us early with thy mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all our days what an amazing pointer this is to the priorities we ought to have at the beginning of this year and every day of every year that we might seek satisfaction in the mercy of
[31:40] God in Christ we are all sinners we are all in need of mercy we are all in need of salvation and Moses says satisfy us early today now there is not a minute to lose call upon him now while he is near aren't these amazing words in the prophecy of Isaiah call unto me while he is near let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return unto the Lord and he will be merciful to him and unto our God for he will abundantly pardon satisfy us early with thy mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all our days you see pictures of people celebrating new year with parties and all sorts of activities it's nothing less than nothing in comparison to a moment of fellowship with our
[32:59] Lord Jesus Christ our saviour he fills our soul with joy when he makes himself known to us in love and mercy ask for that repeatedly every day and then also verse 15 make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we have seen evil maybe this resonates with yourself here today thinking thinking back over last the last month or year or the last number of years maybe you've lost a loved one you have seen unknown difficult times and experienced affliction the Lord knows that and
[34:02] Moses gives us a pointer here as to what we ought to do in that kind of situation he says make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we have seen evil he knows how low you have gone he knows the discouragements you have known but he promises that his grace is sufficient for you and that his strength is made perfect in weakness he knows the darkness but he is the great light he is able to shine into your heart and soul he knows the tears but he is able to wipe away all tears from your eyes make us glad make us glad you remember the situation that
[35:08] Jacob had of old and he was for many years thinking that Joseph had been slain that he was dead and then the famine came and he sent the other brothers down to Egypt to get some corn and Joseph of course yes you all know didn't make himself known to his brethren and he kept Simeon in prison while he sent the rest of them back home saying to them you must bring Benjamin to prove to me that you're not spies and when they told their father Jacob he felt it was the end of things he says these things are all against me Joseph is dead Simeon is dead and Benjamin you will take away all these things are against me that was his conclusion that was his nadir of sorrow but
[36:16] God had something else Joseph wasn't dead Simeon wasn't dead Benjamin wasn't going to be slain actually it was the beginning of a new dawn before Jacob and his family they were given the best part of Egypt to tend their flocks living in the most luxurious area to tend their herds and their flocks while the rest of many of the peoples around them suffered greatly because of the famine and maybe this is the way with yourself don't be concluding wrongly like Jacob did but God is a God of surprises and he will reveal his purpose as time goes on if we wait for him and we look to him and we pray for him to come and deal with our situations make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we had seen evil verse 16 let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their children
[37:45] Moses was a man who saw the mighty hand of God at work even from the very moment that God called him in that wilderness experience when he saw the burning bush the bush was burning but was not being consumed and repeatedly God showed his power in the plagues he sent upon the Egyptians and he showed his power in the dividing of the Red Sea showed his power in sending them manna from heaven forty long and arduous years showed his power by striking the rock and out of that rock water gushed and that rock followed them it says in the scripture in other words the water from that rock followed them all the way through the wilderness journey and
[38:52] Moses knows what he's talking about when he prays let thy work appear unto thy servants besides God's works of creation and providence God's grace is the most amazing work isn't it that God came in human nature taking human nature to himself uniting humanity to his divine person in the womb of the virgin and Jesus Christ growing up the sin bearer walking in obedience to God's infinitely minute laws and fulfilling every one of them in thought word and action on behalf of his people and also of course going up to Calvary and their suffering death being active in the very act of death as he made atonement for the sins of his people and now the
[40:09] Holy Spirit mightily applies the benefits of that amazing work to poor sinners like we are journeying through life today let thy work appear unto thy servants to you unto me let us see it in all its glory let us rejoice in it with the rejoicing of faith and let us magnify it with the magnifying of love day by day in our lives let thy work appear and thy glory unto thy servants children the children of this community the children of all of our communities may the Lord mightily come into their experience building up his cause among us for time to come and finally at verse 17 let the beauty of the
[41:22] Lord our God be upon us isn't that an amazing prayer how often have you prayed let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us people beautify themselves to become winsome and attractive to other people using all sorts of things but the beauty of the Lord is the ultimate beauty the beauty of the Lord holiness of life holiness of life how can holiness of life be ours only by the Holy Spirit coming into our experience and sanctifying us in our lives so that we will be
[42:23] Christ like in our dealings with one another and Christ like in our dealings with the world around us the beauty of the Lord don't you long to have it don't you long to know it don't you long to have an answer to this petition of Moses that the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and then he says establish thou the works of our hands upon us yea the work of our hands establish thou it whatever our hands find to do let us do it as unto the Lord for his glory if you haven't done so up until now may this beginning of a new year be the time when you begin to seek to do this a number of years ago
[43:31] I was visiting actually taking a service in donation in Stornoway on a Sabbath afternoon and there was an old lady there and she was a hundred years old but her memory was very clear and she recalled a sermon she had heard when she was a young girl at a communion time and the after communion address after the sacrament had been delivered to the people then the minister spoke in the after communion address and very often that would have been a practical directive to the people as to how they ought to live and she said this minister said well he said you have to watch your eye what you look at and he quoted this turn thou my sight and eyes away from viewing vanity and then he said you have to watch what you listen to and he quoted this
[45:03] I hear what God the Lord does speak to his folk he'll speak peace and then he said what about your hands whatever your hand finds to do do it with all your might as unto the Lord and what about your feet Psalm 17 he quoted hold up my goings Lord in these thy paths divine that he would walk in the ways of God all of his life that's the way the beauty of the Lord will be upon us as individuals and as a people establish thou the work of our hands may all that we do be
[46:05] God glorified and may we seek to honour him in every detail of our lives from this day forward if we haven't started until now so the greatness of God the mortality of needy people and then the man of God who knew God so well gives us here a succession of petitions in his prayer regarding the things that will show us how to number our days that we may set our hearts upon wisdom let us pray help us Lord to be thankful for the word of your grace may it be our word in season to our souls this day may we rejoice in it as those who would find great spoil and what greater spoil is there than the scriptures inspired and inerrant as they are the word of
[47:26] God give us to long for more and more of the good things that the Lord promises to give to those who seek him go before us now Lord and lead us and guide us hold up our goings we pray in these thy ways and paths divine forgiving your sin in Jesus name Amen we'll bring our worship to our close at this time singing from Psalm 121 Psalm 121 I to the hills will lift mine eyes from whence doth come my aid my safety cometh from the Lord who heaven and earth hath made thy foot he'll not let slide nor will he slumber that thee keeps behold he that keeps is still he slumbers not nor sleeps the
[48:30] Lord thee keeps the Lord thy shade on thy right hand doth stay the moon by night thee shall not smite not yet the sun by day the Lord shall keep thy soul he shall preserve thee from all ill henceforth thy going out and in God keep forever will Psalm 121 to God's praise I to the hills will lift mine eyes I to the hills will lift my eyes from west hath come I did my spirit become that of the Lord could ever bear the lead thy ты first in allを bring think
[49:48] God redeemed behold me God Jesus I am His power strong are sweet the Lord he keeps the Lord I see all life I love the day the moon by night he shall not smile nor ever sun I name that
[50:51] Lord shall feed my soul he shall reset me all in and for my glory I know may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with you all now and forevermore amen