Well, good morning, church. It's great to be with you today. My name is Cory and I get to serve as the executive pastor here at Northwest. And so the deal is, when Anthony's here, somebody moves this pulpit out. But when you're second string guy, man, it's it's all on you to do the extra work. So… But it is, it is wonderful to be with you today. Hey, I'm just so thankful for the worship team. I'm thankful for the ladies that led us this morning. It was a blessing to worship and sing this with you this morning.

And as we ease into things today, because I know it's early, right? We're waking up. Some of you were still working on that first cup of coffee. I want to share with you, like, like many of you, over the past couple weeks, my, my family and I have been traveling, right? We've been visiting some extended family. We have had some fun in the sun, we've caught up and visited with some old friends. And we went to Niagara Falls for the absolute perfect — you couldn't miss it — timing of wildfires in our face, right? So we did, we did great, we winning on that one, right?

But it was on our drive home I was just thinking and pondering about how vacations work, right? I don't know if you're like me, right? It always feels like when vacation starts we've got plenty of time to do and see and experience all the things we want to, to do, right? But all of a sudden we, we kind of realize the days are slipping away. And then you kind of look up and you're like, oh my gosh, we're like halfway through this, this trip or this vacation, and you realize we may not actually get to everything we planned or we had hoped. And then you're like, oh my gosh, this is our last night, this is our last day. We blink, right, and vacation's over. And I often find myself thinking, where did the time go? How did it go so fast? I wish we would have used our time differently. I wish we would have had more time. I wish we would have taken advantage of a few things differently.

Well, today, this morning, we're gonna be in Psalm 90, and it's a little bit like that. And what's really interesting about, about Psalm 90 is this, is that most scholars agree that this Psalm is written by Moses, and it is the only Psalm written by Moses. And Psalm 90 is considered to be the oldest of all of the Psalms. And it's written near the end of Israel's wandering in the desert, which is so interesting, because that means as Moses is, is writing the Psalm and contemplating and being led by the Holy Spirit on what to write, right, he is in the process of watching people's lives, an entire generation, one by one, die in the wilderness. And he's realizing, hey, these people who are dying will never see the promised land, and neither will I.

So Psalm 90 is, is kind of heavy, because Moses is processing all of this as he writes. But although the, the circumstances surrounding this Psalm are heavy, it ends in a place of quiet confidence. But Moses doesn't skip over the hard part and all that he's experiencing to get to the encouraging part. Instead he walks us through it, showing us that God is our steadfast hope and the one who gives us strength for life's journey.

So that's the context of this Psalm. So if you haven't already, why don't you find your Bible or your Bible app and head to Psalm 90 with me? I heard some of those pages flipping already, which is a beautiful sound to, to hear. I'm an old-fashioned guy, I still, I still use this thing, you know, so.

But as we get to Psalm 90 this morning, here's what I want to let you know. We're gonna break this Psalm into three sections. The first section we're gonna break it into is all about God. The second section is about our perspective. And then the third section we're gonna look at is about our lives. And when I'm with you, I like to give us a big idea for the day's message. That way we've kind of got something to hang our hats on and guide us as we move through everything. And, and the big idea for today is this, it's that our days are numbered. Right? God's days are not. So the question is not, how do we get more time? It's, what do we do with the time we actually have? That's there in your notes. Let me say that again, right? Our days are numbered, God's days are not. And so the question isn't, hey, how do we get more time? It's, what do we do with the time you and I actually have?

With that in mind, let's look at this first section of Psalm 90 together. Beginning in verse 1, Moses writes: “Lord, you have been our refuge in every generation. Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity you are God. You return mankind to the dust, saying, ‘Return, descendants of Adam.’ For in your sight a thousand years are like yesterday that passes by, like a few hours of the night. You end their lives; they sleep. They are like grass that grows in the morning — in the morning it sprouts and grows, and by the evening it withers and dries up.”

Here's what jumps off the page in this first section. It's that God has always been. We have not. Another way to say that is, is God is eternal, and you and I, we, we are, are created. Moses establishes this contrast right at the beginning of this Psalm, and I want us to see it clearly, because everything else in this psalm builds off of it.

So in verse 1, Moses begins with the word Lord. That word Lord means Adonai, and that word Adonai reflects God's supreme authority, God's supreme sovereignty and ownership over all of creation. So he's saying, Lord, Adonai, you have been our refuge in every generation. Now here's what we got to think about. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness as Israel's leader, and neither he nor the people he led ever found a place they could call home. Right, Numbers 33 lists 42 locations where Israel set up camp, but none of those places would ever become their home. In Deuteronomy chapter 33, Moses says this, he describes God as Israel's dwelling place. So here in verse 1 he's simply repeating that fact. The thought is, is that the Lord shelters, protects. He's a refuge to his people. He is also their home. Don't miss this, regardless of their physical location or their surroundings.

Then in verse 2, Moses addresses a question of theology, the question of when did God begin. And the answer to that is, God did not begin. God has always existed, he will always exist in the future. He is eternal, without beginning or end. And here's why that's important. Because knowing that God is eternal, that he's always been and he will always be, is more than just information about God. It's actually describing who God is. So Moses, what he's doing, he's establishing God's stability and God's eternity in these opening verses.

Then in verses 4 through 6 he contrasts it with our human frailty. He says in those verses, you return mankind to the dust. He says, in your sight, God, a thousand years are like yesterday that passes by, like a few hours of the night. He says human lives, our lives are like grass that sprouts and grows in the morning, and by evening it withers and dries up. Now listen, as Moses writes this, right? Everybody, he that would have read this early on would have got the picture he was painting right away, because in that part of the world a little rain during the evening could make green grass, like a blanket of green grass, appear on the ground overnight. But then once the hot sun would rise during the day, that grass would, would wither and dry out and die by the end of the day. And listen, that's, that's not a flattering picture when you think about it, grass that's green in the morning and dead by the evening. But that's how Moses describes human life in comparison to God's eternity. And remember, Moses is literally watching this happen, right? People are dying in the desert as they wander, daily. It's a front-row seat from Moses to the brevity and the frailty of human life.

So what we have in these opening verses is, on one side, God, who is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting, or from eternity to eternity. And then on the other side you have us, humans, whose lives are brief and fleeting and temporary. Now here's why that matters. A lot of us live our entire lives without really grappling with our own limits, with our own brevity, with our own mortality. We, we function, right, if we're just honest for a minute, we, we function practically day to day like you and I have unlimited time, unlimited tomorrows, unlimited chances to get around to the things that actually matter the most.

So Moses here, he's not trying to be morbid in these opening verses. He's just trying to be honest, he's laying a foundation for where he's headed. A foundation that says, hey, before we can understand how to live well, we have to understand the actual condition of our lives, and that condition is short. And that can feel discouraging for us today if we stop there, but Moses doesn't stop there, and here's what's really important. He's not communicating, our lives are short, so everything's meaningless. No, what he's communicating is, our lives are short and God has always been our refuge. Look back at verses 1 and 2 again. Moses doesn't open this song with our frailty. Rather he opens the song with God's faithfulness. He says, Lord, you have been our refuge in every single generation. He says, from eternity to eternity you are God.

So the brevity of our lives is not the whole story. The brevity of our lives next to the eternity of God, that's the real story. And here's why that's good news for us today. Our stability was never supposed to come from our own permanence. It was always supposed to come from God's. And that leads us to our first key thought for this morning, and it's this, it's that our lives are short and God's faithfulness is eternal. That our lives are short, but God's faithfulness is eternal. And listen, God's faithfulness is eternal because God himself is eternal. We can't separate those two. So here in these opening verses Moses lays this foundation, and he builds from there.

The second section of this song that we're gonna look at starts in verse 7, where Moses says: “For we are consumed by your anger; we are terrified by your wrath. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days ebb away under your wrath. We end our years like a sigh. Our lives last 70 years, or if we're strong, 80 years. Even the best of them are struggle and sorrow; indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away.” Verse 11 says, “Who understands the power of your anger? Your wrath matches the fear that is due to you.” “Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.”

In verses 7 through 11, Moses reveals that we need God's help to see our lives clearly, because our greatest problem is not just our frailty that he just described in those opening verses. But our greatest problem is that you and I, that we are sinners, subject to the just and holy wrath of God. Now with that in mind, this section of Psalm 90 is really the hardest for us to sit with. Why? Because Moses connects the brevity of our lives directly to sin and judgment. Look again at verses 7 through 9. He says God's anger, because of sin, consumes us. He says our sins are clearly visible to God. That the curse of sin has shortened our days here on earth.

And that language is, that's heavy, and it's not something we should just explain away or rush past. Because what Moses is doing here is, is setting something up. He's not saying every hardship in our lives is a direct punishment or result of a specific sin in our lives, right? That's actually a wrong belief. That's bad theology that the rest of Scripture clearly sheds light on for us. But what Moses is doing here, it's something bigger. He's naming the reality that, that death itself, the whole shortened, the whole broken condition of human life for us, exists because sin entered the world. The brevity we talked about in these opening verses is not just a fact of biology. It's a consequence of sin. Romans chapter 5 says it like this, that sin entered the world through one man, Adam, and death came with it, spreading to everyone, and because of Adam's one act of disobedience we were all made sinners, and death reigned over all of us.

See, if you've stuck around long enough in this world, in this life, we begin to figure out, I think, a reality and a truth, and that is that sin always leads to death. Spiritual death, physical death, the death of our hopes, the death of our dreams, the death of relationships. Sin always brings death. This is the root of what Moses is writing about. And he connects this reality right into verse 10, where he says, hey, our lives last 70 years, or if strong, maybe 80 years, and he says even the best of them are struggle and sorrow, and he says they pass away quickly and then we fly away.

Moses isn't trying to depress us here. He's actually trying to get our attention and lead us somewhere. And we could see where he's leading by looking at verse 12. In verse 12 he says, teach us. He says, teach us to number our days carefully. Why? So that we may develop wisdom in our hearts. Listen, here's what we do, right, we like to number things that are important. We number birthdays. We number anniversaries. We number money and our accomplishments. But listen, the word number here, it doesn't mean that Moses is asking God for a calculation, like, hey God, tell me how many days I actually have left. That's not what he's asking for. Rather, the word number here is asking God for a perspective. It's the difference between knowing intellectually that life is short and actually living like it's true.

And I think if we took a poll in this room today, I think we'd all agree that our lives are limited. But then if we were really honest with each other — I know this is how it works out for me at times and has worked out, right — if we're honest, we don't actually live like it. We live like we have unlimited time to figure out what we actually believe, and why. We act like we have unlimited time to get serious about following Jesus. We act like we have unlimited time to, to raise our kids for God. We act like we have unlimited time to be the spouse, or the parent, or the son, or the daughter, or the sibling, or the friend that God calls us to be. We act like we have unlimited time to help others meet and follow Jesus, unlimited time to impact our sphere of influence for God.

But here's what Moses is doing. Moses is asking, he's saying, God, please close that gap for us between what we actually know and how we live. And he's clear, he's clear in this, this isn't something that you and I manufacture, and we do on our own. He does not say, God, let me try harder to remember life is short. No, he says, God, you teach me, you teach us. This is a request for God to do something you and I simply cannot do on our own. Which leads to our key thought for this section, and it's this, it's that knowing life is short and living like it's true are two different things. Knowing life is short and actually living like it's true, they're two different things.

So here's where Moses has taken us. Our lives are short. God's faithfulness is eternal. And knowing life is short and living like it's true are two different things. Which moves us right into the third section of this psalm, where Moses writes in verse 13. He says, “Lord — how long? He says turn, have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your faithful love so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days. Make us rejoice for as many days as you've humbled us, for as many years as we've seen adversity. Let your work be seen by your servants, and your splendor by their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; established for us the work of our hands — establish the work of our hands.”

As we come to the end of this psalm, let's not forget, Moses has spent decades wandering the desert, seeing God's miracles, dealing with the disobedience of God's people, including his own disobedience, walking through struggles and difficulty and seeing death on a regular basis. Moses has witnessed firsthand how things don't work out, how our sin leads us to places that we never intended to arrive at or wish to be at. He's seen who God is at the same time, and he's seen how life is short. And we can almost feel all of that come to a head, and it leads to this place of desperation in verse 13, where he cries out, right, Lord, how long? Man, those words hold weight when we think about what Moses was going through. What he's saying is, God, I need you. He's saying, God, we need you.

And it's just followed — that cry of his heart is followed by a string of prayer requests in verses 13 through 17. He says, God, turn to us. God, have compassion on us. God, satisfy us. He says, God, make us rejoice. He says, God, let us see your works, let us see your splendor. He says, God, let your favor rest on us. God, establish our work, and God, establish our hands for the work. And here's what I don't want us to miss, because it's really important for how we think about our lives.

Notice here, when it gets to Moses actually praying and asking God for something, Moses does not ask God to extend his life. Moses does not ask for more days. He asks for something different. He asks God to make the days he has truly matter, truly be established, to truly be meaningful. Not in the things of this world, but in God himself. And there's an important distinction here that I want to explain. Because when we think about us for a minute, right? When we think about our lives — I know how I've thought about it at times, too often we desire to control the quantity of our days, to live longer, to have more time. But here in these verses Moses redirects that whole request to quality, toward purpose, toward what those days are actually for. Did you hear that? Don't, don't, don't miss that, right? So often we desire the quantity, we want more days, we want more time, but Moses doesn't go there. He says God is about quality, it's about, toward purpose, and it's a, it's about, towards using the days I actually have for something meaningful.

Look at what he says in verse 17. He says, Lord, let your favor rest on us, be on us. And then he says, establish us, the work of our hands. And, establish the work of our hands. He uses that word established twice, and I had to kind of rest with this for a little bit, because it's kind of like, I don't know, it kind of makes you think about it, like, why is he doing that? He says, establish us, and then he says, establish our work. That's not an accident, that's emphasis. What Moses was saying is, hey God, you establish, you show me what to do with my life. And then he says, God, you equip me for what you've already established. Moses is asking God to take whatever work we do with our limited time, even in the midst of struggle, and make it count for something beyond the moment. This isn't asking God to bless what you and I decide to do. It's the other way around. It's recognizing the work that God is doing, stepping into that work, and trusting him to establish us for the good works he has prepared.

And a lot of times it's tough for us to hear. But Moses was not only writing inspired and carried along by, by the Holy Spirit, he's writing with this generation of people dying off in the desert. Why? Because they've decided to do it their own way. Moses is setting things straight for us. He's refocusing us on a, a key scriptural foundation, a key scriptural truth, which comes from Psalm 127: “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor over it in vain.” So the question for us is not, how much more time do I get? None of us controls that variable. The real question is, what am I doing with the actual time that I have? And is it something that God has established? Because when it's established by God, it's something that outlasts me. It's something that outlasts you. And here's the hope in this. Moses isn't asking God to fix the brevity problem. He's asking God to redeem it, to take our limited days and fill them with purpose. That's a prayer God delights to answer. That's a legacy, not in what will people say about me, but in a much more eternal sense, that what am I giving my life to that will still matter long after I am gone.

So the key point for this last section of Psalm 90 is this. We cannot add to our days, but we can ask God to establish what we do with them. So here's where Moses has taken us. Our lives are short. God's faithfulness is eternal. Knowing life is short and living like it's true are two different things. And we cannot add to our days, but we can ask God to establish what you and I do with them.

So what do we do with this? The core of Psalm 90 was just as relevant to Moses and God's people as it is to us today. And so we're gonna jump to some application, but before we do, can, can I just, like, share my heart with you? As you're, as a pastor on staff here, as an imperfect Christ follower, as a husband, as a dad, who stands up here looking at his wife and kids right over there — this message hit home first here. And at 50 years of age, by God's grace, I've lived a little bit of life now. The good. The bad. The amazing. The messy. The fruitful, and the regretful. As a result, Psalm 90 weighs heavy on me.

So if you're young and in this room, listen, the temptation for you is to hear Psalm 90 today and think, this is for someone else. Because for you, young person, life feels wide open, like you've got time, all the time in the world. And if you're in the middle of it, right, raising kids, building a career, keeping the whole thing running, the temptation is different, but it's the same lie, that there's time later for what matters most. And if you're a little bit further down the road like me, we're probably more aware than anyone in this room that the time we've got left is shorter than the time we've already spent. Wherever you are, the psalmist — for you. And wherever you are, verse 12 says the same thing to all of us. Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.

That leads us right into our first application point this morning, and it's this. Ask God to teach me — we put it that way so it's personal for you in your notes. Ask God to teach me to see my days clearly. This is not a request that we might know how each day is from God and start subtracting it from our 70 or 80 years that we get. It's deeper than that. It's richer than that. It's a prayer that God will, will teach us and help us and empower us to live lives that, that glorify him, lives that are on mission for him, lives that are filled with the heart of wisdom, rooted — don't miss this — in his ways and his word. We make each day count by recognizing life's brevity and living for God in the midst of it.

I love what one commentator says, and we'll have this quote here up on the screen. It says, of all the mathematical equations in life, the hardest is to number our days. We seem to count everything else, but we do not seem to be able to use our days rightly, with wisdom.

So what does this look like for us in practice? It means taking some time this week to identify one thing you've been putting off because you've been operating as though you've got unlimited time. Maybe it's getting serious about Jesus. Maybe it's actually opening up God's Word on a regular basis. Maybe it's prayer. Maybe it's repenting of that sin you've been returning to over and over and over again, and carrying with you that you're not meant to carry. Maybe it's that conversation you need to have. Maybe it's that relationship you need to repair. Maybe it's a decision about how you're spending your time, your talents, or your treasure. Something, you know, needs to change, but you keep deferring.

It's not you trying harder. It's taking that one thing and praying specifically, asking God, God, teach me to see this clearly, as you, God, see it. And help me to stop living like I have unlimited days. See there, that's the difference between you and I gritting our teeth and just trying harder, to going to God and asking him to do something in our lives that you and I cannot. So let's stop saying, I'll do it tomorrow. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Let's stop using the busy excuse. You're going to blink and miss it. Time moves fast, life is short. Don't wait. Ask God to teach you to see your days clearly.

The second application point for us is this. Ask God to satisfy you in him. Moses writes in verse 14, satisfy us in your faithful love. Why? So that we can shout with joy and be glad all of our days. Listen, the only thing that will secure a lifelong gladness for us is a heart satisfied in the experience and the presence of God himself. This means nothing we chase after in this world will satisfy our human heart. Listen, I've been there. Have you been there? Do you find yourself there today? Right, where, where you try to fill your life up with things, things that will just perish, be replaced a couple years from now. Have you found yourself there, placing your hope in celebrities or influencers or political parties? Listen, hey, after 50 years I can tell you this, they will fade, they will be replaced, and they will die. Have you found yourself, like I found myself too often, chasing that fleeting online dopamine hit as we doom scroll for longer than we ever wanted to, and you get up and you've only been left more empty?

When we fill up on those things, the things of this world, instead of God — you know it just just as well as I do, right — we head off into life filled up on those things, and then we wonder why we're like, I'm lonely, I'm broken, I'm worried, I'm wound tight, I'm empty, and I'm still longing. The reason why is because God made us for himself, and our hearts and our lives will find no peace and no rest until we are satisfied in him, and him alone.

So here's the step for us today. What's one place in your life right now where you're functioning as if your own strength and your own stability are holding it all together? Maybe it's your health, where you've quietly started believing your routines or what's keeping you safe. Maybe it's your finances, where you've put your security in a number rather than God. Maybe it's just your own competence. You've gotten really good at handling things, and somewhere along the way that became your refuge instead of God. Sometimes we don't even notice we make this swap, because it happens slowly. So this week, ask yourself, what's one thing, if it were taken away tomorrow, would I still believe God is enough? If your honest answer is no, you found something that's quietly replaced him as your satisfaction. Bring that to God and ask him for help.

Because I love how Jesus says all of this in the New Testament. You know what he says: abide in me. Jesus says, rest in me. Jesus says, dwell in me. Take refuge in me. Be satisfied in me. Because when we abide in the Lord we find strength and comfort and refuge and encouragement and health for each day's demands. When we're satisfied in him, we find a permanence in an eternal God that goes beyond anything this world can offer.

Lastly, ask God to establish something that outlasts you. Ask God to establish something that outlasts you. If we want our lives, if we want your life to truly have meaning, the only way that happens is if God establishes the work and the course of our lives, and then God equips us for what he's established. When God does that, those who come after us will be blessed. When God does that, and we enter into that, that's the kind of stuff that leads to the day we take our last breath and we're before God and he says, well done, good and faithful servant.

Can I tell you a story, how this came to a crashing reality in my life? I would love to tell you that this happened when I was 15 or 30, but it was just a couple years ago. A couple years ago I had the privilege of being part of a church plant. And we planted this church, and the church grew quickly, quicker than anyone expected. Unchurched people were showing up. People were getting saved. Baptisms were taking place. It was all God. And it was during that time I got to go to a church planters conference. And it was there the speaker looked at a room full of hundreds of men who were planting churches, and he said, hey, do you guys know who the greatest church planter of all time was? And he looks at us and he says, the great apostle Paul. Which, all of us were like, yes, that's a pretty good answer. And he says, do you know the one thing that every single church the apostle Paul planted has in common? And he says, they've all died. Every church he's planted has closed up shop.

We were silent in that moment. And what that speaker did right there is, he refocused us. He humbled us, every pastor in the room, by reminding us that the pews, the chairs, the LED walls, the ministries, even ourselves, the pastors — will eventually fade and die. But the lives touched, the lives changed, the lives poured into you for the gospel and for the truth of God's word, would leave a lasting legacy that endures for all eternity. Because, hey, listen, everyone, you and I cannot go take a trip and sit in a church the apostle Paul planted. But every one of us are here today. The gospel has reached us because the apostle Paul joined in God's work, what he established, and said, God, you established me for that work. That's how the gospel's come to us.

So what would it look like for you and I to identify one thing in our lives right now and pray, God, establish the work, establish the course of my life, God, establish me for that work? Because that prayer is an appeal to God's grace, to not pray generically, like, hey God, bless my life, but it's a challenge to pray specifically, to say, God, establish what my marriage is supposed to look like. God, you establish what I'm supposed to be pouring into my kids. God, you establish my identity in you. God, you establish what purity in my life looks like. God, you establish the season of faithfulness that no one will ever, ever see.

And here's why that matters. When we pray that way, we're not asking God to make our lives longer, we're asking him to make them count. For his glory, and for his kingdom. And that's a prayer that takes the pressure off trying to control how many days we get, and it puts the focus on what those days are actually for. That's the framework Moses gives us. Teach me. Teach me to see my days clearly. May I be satisfied in you. And God, you, you establish the time I have left.

Would you pray with me this morning? Heavenly Father, you're so good. In this moment, as we close our time together, as we get ready to sing to you in just a moment again, God, before we do, we confess, we proclaim, we agree, that from eternity to eternity you are Lord, Adonai. You are God. You are supreme, sovereign. You hold all authority over all creation, God. We do not. We understand our lives are fleeting. We understand our sin is great. But we praise you, because your grace is greater. Teach us to number our days. Teach us, Lord, so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts. Teach us to be satisfied in you alone, so that we have joy and rejoice in you, and you alone. Teach us to be glad in you. And in the process, Lord, establish the work you want us to carry out. And then establish us, our hands, our hearts, our lives, for your work. It's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.

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