Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
Today is the last day of the year. As we get ready to say goodbye to 2023, Psalm 90 speaks to our hearts. The context of Psalm 90 is not a pleasant one. It was written in a time when the people of God were “consumed by [God’s] anger” and “terrified” by God’s indignation (v. 7) because of their “iniquities” and “secret sins” (v. 8). Nevertheless, underneath the bad news of God’s righteous judgment lies a bedrock of confidence in God’s everlasting goodness. Rejoicing and prosperity will come again (vv. 14, 17). Psalm 90 reframes the way we think about time and its passing. The psalm begins with good news: “Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” (v. 1). Moreover, God exists outside of time, “before the mountains were born” (v. 2). Indeed, the psalm writer exults, “from everlasting to everlasting You are God” (v. 2). Because God is timeless, God views the expanse of time differently than we see it: “A thousand years in Your sight are like a watch in the night” (v. 4). Framed by God’s eternal existence, our time on earth is short: “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away” (v. 10). The shortness of our life could be discouraging. But it can lead to wisdom: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (v. 12). The phrase “number our days” means “know that we have a limited number of days on earth.” Knowledge of the shortness of our life can help us become wise, according to this psalm. How? What about our few days helps us to become wise? To begin, when we count our days, we are reminded of our smallness compared with God’s unlimited greatness. This recognition leads us, on the one hand, to want to use well the time given to us. On the other hand, it also reminds us of our utter dependence on God. Thus, the final verse reads, “May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us – yes, establish the work of our hands.” When God’s favor rests on us, when God prospers us, then and only then will our work be truly fruitful. What a fascinating – and relevant – conclusion to this psalm! The psalmist’s reflections on God’s timelessness, the relative shortness of our lives, and our dependence on God’s grace lead to a prayer that God “prosper” our work. In this prayer, we hear an echo of the creation story in Genesis 1, in which God worked to create us in God’s own image so that we might work in this world as God’s agents and co-laborers. Though our time on earth is limited, our work still matters. It matters to God. And it matters to this world. What we do as workers will prosper as God’s grace is active in our lives. Thus, as the year changes from 2023 to 2024, and as we remember the shortness of our lives, we do not despair. Rather, when we count our days, we renew our trust in our timeless God and we ask for God’s favor so that we might make a difference through our work in the brief time allotted to us. Comments are closed.
|
Archives
April 2024
Categories |