Number Your Days: Living with Eternal Perspective

Moses begins with God, not with human pain or present circumstances. Psalm 90 puts every life against the backdrop of the eternal God: “From everlasting to everlasting, you are God.” God was there before the mountains, before the earth, before anything else. Human beings, by contrast, are not the center of the story. God created them by him and for him, and life only makes sense when it is lived for his glory.

Moses then brings the hard reality into view. Human beings return to dust, because death came into the world through sin. Death hurts because it is not the way things were supposed to be. It is an enemy. Moses pictures life like grass under the Middle Eastern sun, green and flourishing in the morning but faded and brittle by evening. One blink brings college, marriage, children, grandchildren, and more memories behind than plans ahead.

Moses does not call God’s people to fear death or become preoccupied with it. Psalm 90 teaches them to pray, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Numbering days means living with the awareness that time is limited and that trivial things cannot carry eternal weight. Wisdom changes what matters, how time is spent, how families are raised, and what kind of legacy remains when everything else is gone.

Moses also points beyond getting affairs in order. A will, an advanced directive, and funeral plans can serve a family well, but none of those things can prepare a soul to meet God. The deeper question is whether a person is ready to die with gospel hope. A lasting legacy is not a list of hobbies, possessions, vacations, or accomplishments. A lasting legacy is children and grandchildren knowing the story of a genuine faith, the prayers that were prayed, the Bible that was read, and the steadfast love of God that carried a family through every season.

Jesus is the answer Moses was looking toward. The eternal God stepped into time, took sin upon himself, died, was buried, and walked out of the tomb alive. Because Jesus is alive, death does not get the final word. Christians still grieve, because death brings real separation and real pain, but they do not grieve as those without hope. Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and those who belong to him belong to him both in life and in death. Death may take a loved one away for a little while, but it can never take that loved one from Jesus.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God is eternal; days are numbered. Moses places human frailty beside God’s unchanging nature. Comparison, success, possessions, and accomplishments lose their power when measured against the One who has always been God. Numbered days are not meant to produce panic, but humility and clear-eyed gratitude. [49:50]
• 2. Wisdom begins by numbering days. Psalm 90 does not ask God to reveal the exact number of remaining days. Moses asks for an awareness that every day is limited and accountable to God. That awareness reshapes decisions by pressing the question, “What really matters?” [56:22]
• 3. Faith should outlive earthly possessions. A family may remember careers, hobbies, vehicles, and vacations, yet still not know the most important part of a loved one’s life. A genuine faith leaves behind more than belongings that will eventually be discarded. Children and grandchildren need to hear how Jesus saved, sustained, and transformed those they love. [64:23]
• 4. Jesus gives death no final word. Death is real, painful, and rightly called an enemy because sin brought it into God’s good creation. Jesus entered that brokenness, bore sin, died, and rose again. His resurrection means that death is swallowed up in victory for all who belong to him. [71:56]
• 5. Christian grief holds eternal hope. Jesus wept at Lazarus’s tomb, so grief is not a failure of faith. Christian hope does not deny the void left by death; it rests on the promise that death cannot separate Christ’s people from him. God will one day wipe away every tear, and death itself will be no more.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [31:10] - Life Is a Mist
• [45:25] - Psalm 90 and Moses’s Perspective
• [47:18] - The Eternal God
• [50:29] - Death, Dust, and Sin
• [52:36] - Life Passes in a Blink
• [55:09] - Teach Us to Number Our Days
• [58:44] - Readiness to Die and Learning to Live
• [60:21] - The Legacy of Genuine Faith
• [63:24] - Leaving a Testimony for Family
• [67:14] - Are You Prepared to Meet God?
• [69:45] - Jesus Conquered Death
• [73:08] - Grieving With Hope
• [76:12] - Death Will Be No More
• [78:49] - Jesus Is the Resurrection and Life

Bible Reading

Psalm 90

Verse 1: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.” [47:30]

Verse 2: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” [47:35]

Verse 3: “You return man to dust and say, ‘Return, O children of man!’” [50:29]

Verse 4: “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” [51:19]

Verse 5: “You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning:” [52:08]

Verse 6: “In the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.” [52:13]

Verse 7: “For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed.”

Verse 8: “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.”

Verse 9: “For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.”

Verse 10: “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.”

Verse 11: “Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?”

Verse 12: “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” [55:07]

Verse 13: “Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!”

Verse 14: “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” [01:08:18]

Verse 15: “Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.”

Verse 16: “Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.” [01:08:30]

Verse 17: “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” [01:08:30]

Observation questions

1. What does Moses say about God before he says anything about human weakness, death, or the passing of time? [47:18]
2. What pictures does Psalm 90 use to describe how quickly human life passes, and what does each picture communicate? [52:08]
3. In verse 12, what does Moses ask God to teach his people, and what result does he desire from that prayer? [55:07]
4. In verses 13–17, what requests does Moses make of God after reflecting on the brevity of life? [01:08:49]

Interpretation questions

1. Why does it matter that Psalm 90 begins with God’s eternity rather than with human pain, achievements, or fears about death? How does this change the standard by which a believer measures a life? [49:22]
2. Psalm 90 connects humanity’s return to dust with sin. Why is it important to call death an enemy rather than simply treating it as a normal and harmless part of life? [50:44]
3. Moses does not ask God to reveal the exact number of his remaining days. What is the difference between knowing the date of one’s death and living with the awareness that every day is limited? [55:31]
4. Why are a will, funeral plans, and other practical preparations helpful but unable to make a person ready to meet God? What kind of readiness is needed most? [01:07:14]

Application questions

1. Where are you most tempted to compare your life with other people—their career, possessions, family, abilities, or accomplishments? What changes when you remember that God, not your peers, is the true standard? [49:00]
2. What is one “trivial thing” that takes more of your time, attention, or emotional energy than it should? What would it look like to use that time this week for something that carries eternal weight? [56:51]
3. If your children, grandchildren, relatives, or close friends were asked about your walk with Jesus, what would they be able to say? What part of your faith story or God’s faithfulness do they need to hear from you? [01:00:35]
4. Would it be helpful for you to write, record, or share your testimony with your family? What is one simple next step you could take—writing a note, recording a video, or having a conversation? [01:03:24]
5. Are there practical matters that would spare your family unnecessary confusion in a future time of grief, such as a will, an advanced directive, or written funeral wishes? What conversation would be loving to begin while everyone is healthy? [01:05:42]
6. When you think about death or someone you miss, do you tend toward fear, avoidance, or hopelessness? How does Jesus’ resurrection give room for real grief while also giving real hope? [01:15:03]
7. Who in your life may need to hear the hope you have in Jesus? What could you say honestly and simply about why Jesus is your hope in both life and death? [01:20:23]