Listen to Moses’ words from Psalm 90:11-12
“Who considers the power of Your anger [O Lord], and Your wrath according to the fear of You? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
Let’s consider these verses one at a time…
A Searching Question
First, Moses asks a searching question: Who considers the power of God’s anger? And further, who considers God's anger in regard to Who God is?
How often do we stop to contemplate God? Do our contemplations of God shape our days and our way of living? Does Who God is control our way of living?
If God is Who He says He is, then it ought to be the most dominant, most controlling reality of our lives.
Essentially, Moses is asking, "Who thinks about their sin the way God does? Who is consciously asking, "What is God's perspective on this and how does He feel?" ... and then letting that be the deciding factor.
Who is God anyway?
God is the Creator of all things (Gen. 1; Ps. 24:1).
God is all-powerful (Ps. 115:3).
God is all-knowing (1 Jn 3:20).
God is eternal (Ps. 90:2; 93:2).
God is unchanging (Ps. 102:26-27)
God is self-existent. (Ex. 3:14-15)
God controls the passing of the seasons (Ps. 104:19)
God appoints the beginning of every life (Psalm 139:16).
God appoints the death of every life (Psalm 139:16).
And perhaps most importantly, as it concerns Moses’ question, God is Holy. He is without sin. He is incapable of sin. He will never sin.
1 Samuel 2:2 - “There is none holy like the Lord…”
1 Peter 1:16 - “You shall be holy for I am holy…”
Revelation 4:8 - “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, Who was and is, and is to come!”
So, let’s consider Moses’ question again: Who regularly considers that this holy God is angered by my sin?
This God Who is eternal, perfect, all powerful, and all-knowing…this God Who does not sin.
How might such a serious consideration change our ways and lifestyles?
If I took time to truly consider that the God Who rules creates and rules over all is angered by sin… how might that change me?
A Right Response
So, what happens to the man or woman who takes time to think rightly about God and about themselves?
Moses tells us in verse 12… “So teach us to number our days so that we might get a heart of wisdom.”
For the one who truly considers the nature and reality of God, the only right response is recognizing that He is not like us, and we are not like Him.
I can so easily become entangled in my own life, blind to the fact that I am not in control…and when that happens, I forget to look to God and I forget that my earthly life is limited.
But for the one who takes time to consider God…to consider what the Scriptures teach about Him, about ourselves, and about life…that person is granted a heart of wisdom.
The world often thinks wisdom is found in those things which make life easier, longer, more healthy, or the life. But Moses says wisdom comes through knowing we will die soon.
A Time Die Wise
The wisest man to ever live said these words, “For everything there is a season…a time to be born and a time to die.”
Solomon and Moses would have had a wonderful conversation about this. They both penned the same idea in Scripture: Wisdom comes as we contemplate God in His holiness, as we recognize our sinfulness, and as we recognize our limited and fragile lives.
Being wise means knowing what is actually true.
One day, each of us will stand before this holy, eternal, sinless God to give an account of our lives. Will we be able to say, “Lord, I considered Your anger against sin and numbered my days, and You made me wise”?
True wisdom is trusting God: Trusting that God made all things, that man sinned, that in His righteousness, God has made a way for sinful man to be reconciled to Him through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God (Rom. 10:9-13).
Do you know Him?
So, as we begin the year 2022, let’s consider the power of God’s anger against sin, let’s number our days, and let’s become wise people.
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