Can you explain Psalms 90:12, especially in how many ways we gain wisdom?
Psalm 90 is unique because it was written by Moses. We read in verse 1, “A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” It is a prayer written and used by Moses in his approach to the Lord. The psalm can be divided as such:
Verses 1-2 – Acknowledging the eternal One
Verses 3-10 – Speaking of the frailty and death of man due to sin
Verses 11-17 – Praying for the return of the Lord
Now, let’s consider verse 12, which says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
*SO TEACH US TO NUMBER OUR DAYS – This is not a request that the Lord would let us know the exact length of our lives. He certainly knows that, as we read in Psalm 139:16, “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.” (NKJV) The request by Moses was for an understanding of the frailty and briefness of our lives on earth. He was asking for a true sense of the reality that our lives here are very brief and could end at any moment. We are reminded in James 4:13-14, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? IT IS EVEN A VAPOUR, THAT APPEARETH FOR A LITTLE TIME, AND THEN VANISHETH AWAY.” Solomon wrote in Proverbs 27:1, “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”
*THAT WE MAY APPLY OUR HEARTS UNTO WISDOM – The desire to have an understanding of how fragile and brief life is, is in view of living our lives wisely. Realizing that life here is very short, Moses desired to live his life accordingly. For this, he asked the Lord for His wisdom of how he should live. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4:5, “Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.” We are told to “get wisdom.” You may be asking, “How do I get the wisdom of God?” Let’s read James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, LET HIM ASK OF GOD, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” Isn’t that simple? To acquire knowledge about God, we must spend time in His Word, prayerfully looking to Him to teach us as we study our Bibles. To acquire the wisdom of God that we need to lead us each day, we simply ask the Lord for it. Of course, our request must be sincere. James 1:6 says, “But LET HIM ASK IN FAITH, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” As believers in the world, we should constantly and constantly ask the Lord for His wisdom in every circumstance.
My dear friend, may our prayers imitate Moses’ prayer. Let’s ask the Lord to give us a sense of how short our lives are and give us His wisdom that we might live our lives properly and for Him. Each moment of each day should be lived in preparation for living in eternity with the Lord. May we hold on to things of this world very loosely, realizing they will soon be gone. Understanding we don’t have a lot of time here, we should be involved in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others so that they might be saved and live eternally with the Lord. I’m reminded of the old hymn that says,
With eternity’s values in view Lord,
With eternity’s values in view.
May I do each day’s work for Jesus
With eternity’s values in view.
Remember: TIME IS SHORT. ETERNITY IS LONG! (263.4)