Pastor Cal Lord's Recent Sermons
"You Can Choose Where You Will Live"
Psalm 90:1-12 November 16, 2008
There are some things we can choose and some things we can’t. Wisdom comes from knowing
the difference. We can’t choose the date we were born. It was predetermined before we had any
say in the matter. We can’t choose the day we will die. Only God knows that.
Solomon said there is “a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time
to be born and a time to die.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)
Having acknowledged this, there is still a lot that we can determine on our own. We can choose
how we will live our lives and where we will live them. I want to talk about it this morning. As our
jumping off point, I want to look at Psalm 90.
Psalm 90 was one of the few that wasn’t written by David. It was actually written by Moses. It is
by far the oldest Psalm in the Bible. It was written during a very bleak time in Hebrew history. The
Hebrews had wandered in the desert for nearly forty years. Over those years, nearly everyone who
had set out with Moses had died. Even with a deep faith, Moses must have been discouraged. We
get a glimpse of that here as he talks about the fleeting nature of life before he turns it around to
affirm his faith.
Moses begins be claring that God is, first and foremost, “Adonai” which denotes the majesty of
God. He is more brilliant and more expansive than the greatest tabernacle or palace created by man.
This sets the stage for him to declare that God is a “dwelling place.” The Hebrew word for this
phrase means a protective shelter. In other words God is ready and able to shelter, comfort and
protect His own.
Have you ever thought about that? God is a place to go to, if you will, a place to live. You can
choose to live under his divine protection. This was important for the Israelites to understand.
They were a people without a country. They were living in tents in the middle of nowhere. But
Moses reminds them no matter how insecure and temporary their lives are, they are protected by
this eternal God. Moses knew that ultimately our safe place is under the shadow of God’s arms.
God is a dwelling place that is eternal, past, present, and future.
Moses wrote in the book of Deuteronomy: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the
everlasting arms.”
This is as important for us to know and understand as it was for them back in Moses’ day. Why?
Our lives are so short. We have so little time to get it right. That is what Moses says in the rest of
our Psalm.
He says we are like dust in the wind. Do you remember the musical group Kansas? In the late
1970s, they sang we are “dust in the wind.” In the book of Genesis we read that we are dust and
we will return to dust. When our lives are compared to the Lord who is from “everlasting to
everlasting” we realize that our lives are transitory. Even the longest recorded life, Methuselah lived
969 years, is but a day to the Lord.
Then Moses compares us to grass. Some commentators believe this is an allusion back to the flood
in Genesis six and seven. During Noah’s time, the people of the world were strong and boastful
and rebellious against God. Noah watched that entire generation be swept away in judgment
because of their rejection of God’s message of redemption. Likewise, Moses watched in horror as
an entire generation died in the wilderness because of their rejection of God’s direction into the
Promised Land. Like grass that springs up new in the morning, they withered and were no more.
David writes:“As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind
blows over it and it is gone, and its place is remembered no more.” (Psalm 103:15)
Finally Moses gives one more description of mankind in contrast to God, with the number 25,550.
That is seventy years. Interestingly, Moses counts our time in days, instead of years. He says that
our time here on this earth in very short and full of distress.
We count our lives in terms of years. We celebrate birthdays but count them in years. Some even
lie about that!
I ran across a few interesting facts that speak to our subject. The average life of copper wire is
twenty years. The oldest chicken on record at the age of eighteen years. The average age for a cat
is fifteen years. The average life of a dollar bill is eighteen months. The average life of a painted line
on the road is three to four months. The average life of a pro basketball players shoes is two
weeks. The average life of a tornado is ten minutes. And the average life of a human is 25,550
days.
Many live more days than this and many live less. The truth is that death comes to all. Our lifespan
still falls within the seventy to eighty range that Moses observed 2500 years ago. The oldest person
in our congregation is well over 35,000 days old. And the youngest, Daniel and Chase Stroud, are
only eight days old.
God knows the day you were born and He knows your expiration date. When Confederate General
Andrew “Stonewall” Jackson was asked how he could be so fearless in battle, he responded, “I
feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time of my death.”
We are only given a few days to live and then life is done. We get one shot. How and Where then
shall we live?
Moses looks out over the landscape littered with lifeless bodies. He then is overcome with emotion
and bows his head and utters this beautiful prayer:
“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (v.12)
Moses is saying, in effect, “God, you are God and we are not. We are like dust, grass, a whisper.
We do not know how to live or how to please you. We run after other gods and do things we
know will hurt us in the long run. Please, I beg of you, teach us how to make the most of our
short time here on earth.”
The word “teach” means to “ weigh or seriously consider.” The phrase “to number our days” can
mean to “count, reckon, assign, or prepare.” It is the idea of being intentional about how and
where we live our lives.
If it is true that we only have a few days to figure this out, maybe we need to look at our priorities.
If you knew your time was short, would you do things differently?
In a song written by Tim McGraw for his dying father, he describes how his impending death
caused him to reevaluate his life. After learning the bad news, he “went sky divin’, went rocky
mountain climbing, went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu. I loved deeper, and I spoke
sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I’ve been denying, and he said someday I hope you get your just
to live like you were dying.”
Our problem is not that we don’t have enough time. We all have the same amount of time per day.
It is how you use that time for the Lord. So where you live your life? The good news I have for
you today is that you can choose where you will live. You can live in God or you can live in the
world. The world says eat drink and be merry. God says come and dwell in me.
If you chose God then you can spend your days doing the following;
Take time for God
Pick up the Bible and read it. Start with the gospels. Then work through the Psalms.
Attend church every Sunday. Join a Bible study.
Serve others and use your gifts to bring glory to God. Get involved. Don’t be a pew potato.
There are opportunities in every ministry of FBC to serve.
Take time for your family (marriage, children, parents)
If you are married, go on a date. (not to McDonalds) Guys, Buy her flowers. Gals, do
something that he enjoys.
Make time for your children. Find out what they want to do with you and then make time to do
it.
Pray for your family. Spend time each morning lifting your family up to the Lord.
Take time for yourself That is what the Sabbath is all about.
Get enough sleep. Take fiber pills. Walk, run, play basketball. Do something physical.
Turn the TV off and read a book. Try an autobiography of a person who used their days to
honor God
Take a few “squint days” this year. A fellow pastor told me it was important to step back every
once in a while and “squint.” This is an intentional time of reevaluation of your goal.
There is a story of three demons arguing over how best to destroy Christians. The first demon
said, “Let’s tell them there is no heaven. Take away their reward and they will collapse.” The
second demon disagreed. He suggested, “Let’s tell them there is no hell. Take away their fear of
punishment and they will go wild.” The third demon smiled and softly said, “No, my friends, there
is a better way. Let’s just tell them there is no hurry.” They all laughed and knew that would be the
best weapon of all.
Do you hear God’s voice calling to you today? He wants you to choose to live in him. Don’t listen
to the voice that says you have plenty of time because the odds are you do not.
Listen to Jesus: “The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. But I have come that you may have
life, abundant life.” John 10:10)
This is this difference between surviving and thriving! God is calling us to live in him and to live
passionately, love purposefully, and serve extravagantly for the cause of Christ.
John Piper, in his book “Don’t Waste Your Life” forcefully says, “God created us to live with a
single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is
a life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be
made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.”
Make your days count for Christ! You can choose where you will live.
Psalm 90:1-12 November 16, 2008
There are some things we can choose and some things we can’t. Wisdom comes from knowing
the difference. We can’t choose the date we were born. It was predetermined before we had any
say in the matter. We can’t choose the day we will die. Only God knows that.
Solomon said there is “a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time
to be born and a time to die.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)
Having acknowledged this, there is still a lot that we can determine on our own. We can choose
how we will live our lives and where we will live them. I want to talk about it this morning. As our
jumping off point, I want to look at Psalm 90.
Psalm 90 was one of the few that wasn’t written by David. It was actually written by Moses. It is
by far the oldest Psalm in the Bible. It was written during a very bleak time in Hebrew history. The
Hebrews had wandered in the desert for nearly forty years. Over those years, nearly everyone who
had set out with Moses had died. Even with a deep faith, Moses must have been discouraged. We
get a glimpse of that here as he talks about the fleeting nature of life before he turns it around to
affirm his faith.
Moses begins be claring that God is, first and foremost, “Adonai” which denotes the majesty of
God. He is more brilliant and more expansive than the greatest tabernacle or palace created by man.
This sets the stage for him to declare that God is a “dwelling place.” The Hebrew word for this
phrase means a protective shelter. In other words God is ready and able to shelter, comfort and
protect His own.
Have you ever thought about that? God is a place to go to, if you will, a place to live. You can
choose to live under his divine protection. This was important for the Israelites to understand.
They were a people without a country. They were living in tents in the middle of nowhere. But
Moses reminds them no matter how insecure and temporary their lives are, they are protected by
this eternal God. Moses knew that ultimately our safe place is under the shadow of God’s arms.
God is a dwelling place that is eternal, past, present, and future.
Moses wrote in the book of Deuteronomy: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the
everlasting arms.”
This is as important for us to know and understand as it was for them back in Moses’ day. Why?
Our lives are so short. We have so little time to get it right. That is what Moses says in the rest of
our Psalm.
He says we are like dust in the wind. Do you remember the musical group Kansas? In the late
1970s, they sang we are “dust in the wind.” In the book of Genesis we read that we are dust and
we will return to dust. When our lives are compared to the Lord who is from “everlasting to
everlasting” we realize that our lives are transitory. Even the longest recorded life, Methuselah lived
969 years, is but a day to the Lord.
Then Moses compares us to grass. Some commentators believe this is an allusion back to the flood
in Genesis six and seven. During Noah’s time, the people of the world were strong and boastful
and rebellious against God. Noah watched that entire generation be swept away in judgment
because of their rejection of God’s message of redemption. Likewise, Moses watched in horror as
an entire generation died in the wilderness because of their rejection of God’s direction into the
Promised Land. Like grass that springs up new in the morning, they withered and were no more.
David writes:“As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind
blows over it and it is gone, and its place is remembered no more.” (Psalm 103:15)
Finally Moses gives one more description of mankind in contrast to God, with the number 25,550.
That is seventy years. Interestingly, Moses counts our time in days, instead of years. He says that
our time here on this earth in very short and full of distress.
We count our lives in terms of years. We celebrate birthdays but count them in years. Some even
lie about that!
I ran across a few interesting facts that speak to our subject. The average life of copper wire is
twenty years. The oldest chicken on record at the age of eighteen years. The average age for a cat
is fifteen years. The average life of a dollar bill is eighteen months. The average life of a painted line
on the road is three to four months. The average life of a pro basketball players shoes is two
weeks. The average life of a tornado is ten minutes. And the average life of a human is 25,550
days.
Many live more days than this and many live less. The truth is that death comes to all. Our lifespan
still falls within the seventy to eighty range that Moses observed 2500 years ago. The oldest person
in our congregation is well over 35,000 days old. And the youngest, Daniel and Chase Stroud, are
only eight days old.
God knows the day you were born and He knows your expiration date. When Confederate General
Andrew “Stonewall” Jackson was asked how he could be so fearless in battle, he responded, “I
feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time of my death.”
We are only given a few days to live and then life is done. We get one shot. How and Where then
shall we live?
Moses looks out over the landscape littered with lifeless bodies. He then is overcome with emotion
and bows his head and utters this beautiful prayer:
“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (v.12)
Moses is saying, in effect, “God, you are God and we are not. We are like dust, grass, a whisper.
We do not know how to live or how to please you. We run after other gods and do things we
know will hurt us in the long run. Please, I beg of you, teach us how to make the most of our
short time here on earth.”
The word “teach” means to “ weigh or seriously consider.” The phrase “to number our days” can
mean to “count, reckon, assign, or prepare.” It is the idea of being intentional about how and
where we live our lives.
If it is true that we only have a few days to figure this out, maybe we need to look at our priorities.
If you knew your time was short, would you do things differently?
In a song written by Tim McGraw for his dying father, he describes how his impending death
caused him to reevaluate his life. After learning the bad news, he “went sky divin’, went rocky
mountain climbing, went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu. I loved deeper, and I spoke
sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I’ve been denying, and he said someday I hope you get your just
to live like you were dying.”
Our problem is not that we don’t have enough time. We all have the same amount of time per day.
It is how you use that time for the Lord. So where you live your life? The good news I have for
you today is that you can choose where you will live. You can live in God or you can live in the
world. The world says eat drink and be merry. God says come and dwell in me.
If you chose God then you can spend your days doing the following;
Take time for God
Pick up the Bible and read it. Start with the gospels. Then work through the Psalms.
Attend church every Sunday. Join a Bible study.
Serve others and use your gifts to bring glory to God. Get involved. Don’t be a pew potato.
There are opportunities in every ministry of FBC to serve.
Take time for your family (marriage, children, parents)
If you are married, go on a date. (not to McDonalds) Guys, Buy her flowers. Gals, do
something that he enjoys.
Make time for your children. Find out what they want to do with you and then make time to do
it.
Pray for your family. Spend time each morning lifting your family up to the Lord.
Take time for yourself That is what the Sabbath is all about.
Get enough sleep. Take fiber pills. Walk, run, play basketball. Do something physical.
Turn the TV off and read a book. Try an autobiography of a person who used their days to
honor God
Take a few “squint days” this year. A fellow pastor told me it was important to step back every
once in a while and “squint.” This is an intentional time of reevaluation of your goal.
There is a story of three demons arguing over how best to destroy Christians. The first demon
said, “Let’s tell them there is no heaven. Take away their reward and they will collapse.” The
second demon disagreed. He suggested, “Let’s tell them there is no hell. Take away their fear of
punishment and they will go wild.” The third demon smiled and softly said, “No, my friends, there
is a better way. Let’s just tell them there is no hurry.” They all laughed and knew that would be the
best weapon of all.
Do you hear God’s voice calling to you today? He wants you to choose to live in him. Don’t listen
to the voice that says you have plenty of time because the odds are you do not.
Listen to Jesus: “The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. But I have come that you may have
life, abundant life.” John 10:10)
This is this difference between surviving and thriving! God is calling us to live in him and to live
passionately, love purposefully, and serve extravagantly for the cause of Christ.
John Piper, in his book “Don’t Waste Your Life” forcefully says, “God created us to live with a
single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is
a life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be
made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.”
Make your days count for Christ! You can choose where you will live.
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