I will be hiking with six other high school classmates. We all graduated in 1971 from West Michigan Christian High School, a CRC high school in Muskegon. We will hike from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to the bottom, staying two nights at Phantom Ranch, and then hiking out. We will also hike around Sedona. This is our third such Grand Canyon trip.
My ego is wrongly inflated as I think we are something special to be able to do it. “Yea, we could hike the entire Appalachian Trail if we just had time.”
But, Psalm 90 reminds us of God’s Eternity and Man’s Transitoriness. Man is frail. Verse 10 reminds us: “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away.”
And so, we must fear God and number our days. The good of which we are so proud can often be the enemy of the best that we should do, because the good can crowd out the best. We must use our time wisely. We only have time to do just a little of the best that we want to do.
College reunions teach a valuable lesson. At the 5 and 10 year reunion, there is the pride of completing additional graduate education and getting started in one’s career. At the 15 and 20 year reunion, there is the pride of doing well at one’s career and making money. At the 25 and 30 reunion, there is the pride in one’s children, but one begins to see more humility in classmates as age began to take its toll. I have not yet been to a 35 year reunion, but I imagine this humility will grow as we become more and more focused on just surviving and as we recognize more and more that no one really cares how “successful” the other college classmates are.
Everyone has their own testimony that life is frail. For me, it was shocking to see what happened to my Dad. My Dad graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. He was a very brilliant, successful, and well-liked surgeon. He was meticulous in appearance and behavior. And yet, during the last seven years of his life, he suffered from severe Alzheimer’s to the progressive point that he did not recognize me, his only child, in his last year. He became totally dependent on others to care for him, not even able to thank them. He died two years ago.
In conclusion, God “does not take pleasure in the legs of a man“. Psalm 147:10. This is a good reminder as we strut our stuff into the Grand Canyon. Rather, “The LORD favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness.” Psalm 147:11. So, let us read Psalm 90 and remember to number our days, that we may present to God a heart of wisdom. Let us fear God and wait for His lovingkindness.
Psalm 90
“1 Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
3 You turn man back into dust
And say, “Return, O children of men.”
4 For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.
5 You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
6 In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.
7 For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.
8 You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
9 For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.
10 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.
11 Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
12 So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
13 Do return, O LORD; how long will it be?
And be sorry for Your servants.
14 O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have seen evil.
16 Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.”
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
3 You turn man back into dust
And say, “Return, O children of men.”
4 For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.
5 You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
6 In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.
7 For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.
8 You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
9 For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.
10 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.
11 Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
12 So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
13 Do return, O LORD; how long will it be?
And be sorry for Your servants.
14 O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have seen evil.
16 Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.”
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 