Our goal should be to recognize each day as a day given to us by the grace of God—to be used in His wisdom...
The earliest known Psalms were written during the time of Moses. The people of Israel have been wandering the desert for some time. A destination that should have taken several months turned into 40 years-they just kept going around "that same old mountain." God was the deliver and Moses was the servant whom God used. They were a rebellious people. Never satisfied and forever complaining. Moses is interceding in his prayers for the people-
"who "wandered" with a rebellious spirit—many died without seeing the Promised Land."
Our goal should be to recognize each day as a day given to us by the grace of God—to be used in His wisdom—we learn to make choices through which God can establish the work of our hands (v. 17) producing something valuable to those that follow after us (v. 16) and that which honors God.
Thought for the today: This a very heart-wrenching prayer. The sorrow of Moses for these people must have been overwhelming. To number our days is to measure the time left in life and make every day count. Everyday belongs to the Lord and we need to make the best of each one for his glory—not our own. Obedience to God's Word is extremely important. If you love God you will obey his Word. But unfortunately the majority of believers today rely more on "cheap grace" rather than obedience...What is cheap grace?
Selected Text
“The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain... See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.’
“The plan pleased me well; so I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe. And they departed and went up into the mountains and spied it out. They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; bringing word back to us saying, ‘It is a good land which the Lord our God is giving us.’ … but “Nevertheless, you would not want to go up, and rebelled against the command of the Lord… the people complained in their tents, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
“Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ Yet, for all that, you did not believe the Lord your God, , who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go… Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.
The Desert Years
Deuteronomy 2:2-7
Deuteronomy 2:2-7
“Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness … “And the Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘You have skirted this mountain long enough, now turn northward. And command the people, saying, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren, the descendants of Esau… and they will be afraid of you.
Therefore watch yourselves carefully. Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, because I have givenMount Seir
“For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” ’
Therefore watch yourselves carefully. Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, because I have given
“For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” ’
We should understand and know "the wrath of God" to best safeguard against offending God...learning to number our day aright, and to recognize the shortness of our days—this will produce the kind of godly wisdom that God will smile on.
Psalm 90 — Moses calls on God to plead for the people
1 Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever before You had formed the earth
and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
3 You turn man to destruction, and say, “Return, O children of men.”
4 For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past—
like a watch in the night You carry them away like a flood, they are like a sleep.
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In the morning they are like grass which grows up:
6 In the morning it flourishes and grows up in the evening it is cut down and withers.
7 For we have been consumed by Your anger, and by Your wrath we are terrified.
8 You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
9 For all our days have passed away in Your wrath—
We finish our years like a sigh.
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10 The days of our lives are seventy years, and if by reason of strength they are eighty years—
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
12 So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
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13 Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants.
14 Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
15 Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us,
The years in which we have seen evil.
16 Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children.
17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our
hands for us— Yes, establish the
work of our hands.
work of our hands.
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