{"id":9433,"date":"2021-03-14T16:32:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T20:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/?post_type=message&p=9433"},"modified":"2021-03-19T16:34:41","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T20:34:41","slug":"dust-in-the-wind","status":"publish","type":"message","link":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/message\/dust-in-the-wind","title":{"rendered":"Dust in the Wind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Below is an automated transcript of this message<\/h3>\n\n\n\nAll right. Good morning, everyone. Good morning to those of you that are here today and you’re here on time. You must have remembered to \u201cspring forward\u201d this morning. Good welcome to those of you that are watching online this morning on our online streaming service as well.

\nWe <\/i><\/span> are in part four of our series, \u201cSeeing the Sacred in the Secular.\u201d What we’ve been doing is looking and listening to a different secular song and then looking for that thread that we could pull out of it; to look for the sacred in the song. We’re convinced of this, that all truth is God’s truth. Often, people that are far from God are still inspired, by God and by God’s creation, to write songs that kind of make us want a little more. We hear the song and then we think, What if there were more to it?

\nThat’s kind of how it is with this song, \u201cDust in the Wind.\u201d \u201cDust in the Wind\u201d was released in 1977, by a band called Kansas, by one of the writers in that band. His name <\/i><\/span> is Kerry Livgren. He said, at the time that as he was writing this song, he was kind of going through a time in his life when he was thinking about the true value of life. He said he had material things, success, etc.; they were doing well and making money. But, he realized, that in the end we will eventually die just like everyone else. It doesn\u2019t matter about our possessions or our accomplishments. We all just end up back in the ground. This is how he was thinking when they wrote this song and released it.

\nThree years later, in 1980, Kerry Livgren actually gave his life to Christ and became a Christ follower. When he was asked about this song, \u201cDust in the Wind,\u201d and some of the other songs he wrote (maybe some of you might remember a song that he wrote called, \u201cCarry On My Wayward Son.\u201d That one kind of has a spiritual feeling to it as well ) <\/i><\/span>here’s what he said, \u201cIf you look back at those lyrics that I wrote in the seventies, like \u201cDust in the Wind,\u201d it’s a song about the transitory nature of our physical lives, and it falls under this umbrella that at the time I guess I was looking for God.\u201d That’s what he said. He knew there was something missing in his life. And so, he writes this song. I think Pastor Jonathan did a good job singing it for us today. As you were listening to the lyrics, maybe you heard these lyrics that said, \u201cAll we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see. Dust in the wind. All we are is dust in the wind.\u201d It was kind of easy to find this one in the Bible because the Bible actually says stuff like this. It’s this idea of the brevity of life, that life here is temporary and brief. There is a <\/i><\/span> frailty to life, that life is something that could be easily extinguished.

\nDo you ever feel this way? Do you ever feel like, Man, things are just changing so fast and what’s here today is gone tomorrow. Maybe you think about how it used to feel when you went home to grandma’s house and now grandma is with the Lord. Maybe it’s something else that has changed in your life really quickly. If you’re a young person, maybe you are seven years old and somebody says how old you are, you don’t say, I am seven. You say, I’m seven and a half or I’m seven and three quarters. We’re always pressing and leaning forward, right? But, as you get older, in your twenties, you just say how old you are. And then, by the time you get to your thirties, you don’t really want to answer and it’s <\/i><\/span> because time seems to accelerate.

\nHave you noticed this? As you grow older, time accelerates. If you’re feeling like that today, the brevity of life, an awareness of that, then this message is for you, because today we’re not the only ones that have felt this way. The men who wrote the scripture, who were inspired by God, felt this way too.

\nToday, we’re going to be looking at Psalm 90; it\u2019s one psalm that was written by Moses. It’s the oldest of the 150 psalms. Moses surely felt this way; he lived 120 years, so he lived a long life. He’s writing this psalm toward the end of his days. He has experience to go with the inspiration that the Lord has given us. We’re going to be looking at the Psalm today; in Psalm 90, Moses prayed that God would teach his people to learn to spend their days wisely and not to waste <\/i><\/span> their life. I believe, as we look at the text today, we too can learn. We can hear God’s teaching. We can learn to spend our days wisely.

\nAs we look at the text, we’re going to be looking at three ways God teaches us to wisely spend our days. Are you ready?

\nPsalm 90:1-17 (ESV) A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. 1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 3 You return man to dust and say, \u201cReturn, O children of man!\u201d 4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. 5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: 6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and <\/i><\/span>data-timecode=”612.95″>establish <\/i><\/span> the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!\u201d This is God’s word. Amen.

\nWe are looking for three ways that God teaches us how to wisely spend our days. Here’s the first.

\nGod teaches us how to wisely spend our days by\u2026\n1. \u2026 Recognizing His eternality and our mortality.

\nGod is eternal and we’re not. God is eternal. So Moses begins this prayer. Now, this is the Moses you think it is. This is the Moses who wrote the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Hebrews called these first five books the Torah, the Book of the Law.

\nMoses who was a prince in Egypt for the first forty years of his life. Then, from forty to eighty years of his life, he was a shepherd in the wilderness, and then God called him at age eighty. How would you like to be eighty years old when God called you to your <\/i><\/span> new career? So at age eighty, God called Moses to go deliver His people in Israel from Egypt. At age eighty, at the burning bush, Moses answers the call. He goes to Egypt and he leads the people out toward the Promised Land. It’s easy to look at Moses’ life; it is divided up into three forty-year divisions.

\nNow, we’re at the end of his 120 years. He’s probably around 118 years old. He has some years under his belt to reflect on. He begins this prayer with a contemplation on the eternality of God. He begins talking about God and where God is. It’s kind of like the way Jesus taught us to pray, \u201cOur father, which art in heaven, hallowed be your name\u2026\u201d If you look at these first verses, he says, 1 \u201cLord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.\u201d You’ve been our dwelling place in all generations, even when we were homeless and wandering in the wilderness. When we <\/i><\/span> were slaves in Egypt, we always had you as our dwelling place, our shelter and our refuge He starts off by saying that God is our home, our shelter and our place of safety. He’s praising the Lord for His care.

\nThen, he begins to talk about how God is the Creator, he says, 2 \u201cBefore the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world,\u201d He’s saying that God existed before the creation and He actually made it. And then he says, \u201cfrom everlasting to everlasting, you are God.\u201d In other words, he says, as far in the past as you can look, God is already there. You look everlasting in the past. He’s already there. You look everlasting, everlasting to everlasting. You look as far as you can in the future. He’s there.

\nHere’s the thing that Moses is proclaiming to us: He’s <\/i><\/span> saying God stands outside of time. He is not limited by time. The first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, says this, \u201cIn the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.\u201d In the beginning; that’s a time word. He created time. He created the heavens; that’s a space word. He created the earth; that’s a matter word. He created the three dimensional universe that we live in time, space and matter, but he is not captured by that. He is the Creator; we are the creation, we are the creatures. He is not limited by time. Did you get that? Moses got it. \nMoses is saying, I know who You are, God.

\nHere’s what Isaiah said when he was contemplating on God’s return, Isaiah 40:28 (ESV) \u201cHave you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the the <\/i><\/span> Creator of the ends of the earth.\u201d Well, if you hadn’t heard, you’ve heard it today; He is the everlasting God, from everlasting to everlasting. He is God. I like how he says that He is God. He doesn’t say, You were God or You will be God. This seems to be a hint at the name of God, which is, I AM. Not, I was. Not, I will be, but I am everlasting, in the present and outside of time. I am the self-existent one. I am from everlasting to everlasting. He is God.

\nThen, Moses gets to verse three, \u201cYou return man to dust and say, \u201cReturn, O children of man!\u201d This is a clear reference to Adam’s creation and, also, the curse of sin. How was Adam made? If you go to the book of Genesis. It says that the Lord God took the dust of the earth and He made Himself a man and then He breathed life into him and he became a living soul. So God’s own <\/i><\/span> breath was breathed into man. And he was made in the image of God. And then, He made the woman and then there was male and female. They were made in the image of God. They would have lived eternally in perfection, yet they sinned. Because of sin, God promised, if you sin, you will die. He told them that.

\nIn Genesis 3:19, it is a reference to the curse of sin: \u201cfor you are dust, and to dust you shall return.\u201d He says that I made you from dust and now, because of your sin, when you die, your body will return to dust. God’s intent was that we would have an eternal fellowship with Him. But because we <\/i><\/span> rebelled against God and have gone our own way, He let us go our own way. As a result, sin was introduced into God’s good creation and infected all of the human population plus the creation so that today that sin equals suffering. So why is there suffering in the world because of sin? Why is there death in the world because of sin?

\nMoses is contemplating on this. This is what has happened. God is everlasting. He returns man to dust. Why? Because of our sin. Then he reflects again on God in verse four, \u201cFor a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.\u201d And so, he says, God, 1000 years to you is like yesterday, or even more so. It’s like a watch in the night now.

\nNow the Jews would talk about staying awake for <\/i><\/span> different watches, like if you were, they went on guard. Or if you were guarding sheep, there were different watches; the first watch was at sunset at 6 p.m. You’re closer to the equator when you’re in Israel, so it’s not as drastic. Plus, they didn’t have daylight saving time, and so from 6pm to 10pm was the first watch; four hours. The second watch was 10pm to 2am. The third watch, which was the latest watch of the night, was from 2am to 6am. 1000 years is just like four hours to Him . He sees all of time as one who stands from a perspective outside of time. We are the dot on the timeline; March 14th, 2021 at 11:29am. The dot just sits there. Then, it moves here on this timeline and we have these limited memories. <\/i><\/span> The older you get, the more selective they are. If you look back, you can only see this far back. You read history books but you can’t see any of what is coming. Here’s a timeline, written on the piece of paper of eternity. Here it goes; God’s the piece of paper. He sees the whole thing, 1000 years, in one glance.

\nPeter begins to think about this. In 2 Peter 3:8 (ESV) \u201cBut do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.\u201d So when you’re praying, keep in mind that God’s got a different calendar and a different timeline than you do. He’s not limited by time. He sees the beginning. He sees the end from the beginning. And so when you pray, recognize you’re praying to the Eternal One. And when you’re thinking about your life and and how how long we have here, think about that <\/i><\/span> because it brings wisdom to the way we live.

\nHe uses some metaphors to describe our life in verse four. He’s talked about how God is timeless; it’s irrelevant to him. But then us, you can sweep us away as with a flood. So our lives are just like that.

\nFor kids today, this would be probably boring for them, but when I was little, I got my first Etch-a-sketch. It was so cool; I would make these wonderful creations and then get ready to show it to my mom and my little brother would grab it and shake it. He would sweep it away like a flood. My creation was gone. And so, it’s kind of like verse five. It\u2019s like our life; it’s just like a flood sweeps our life away. It’s like a dream in the night, and then it’s gone. It’s like grass that the heat <\/i><\/span> of the day comes along and causes it to turn brown, like your lawn in August around here, if you live in Eastern North Carolina. So he’s using these metaphors: like a flood, like grass, like a dream. Our lives are brief. They’re like dust in the wind.

\nWhy is this important to know? Because we’re in denial. We put everything off. Tomorrow, I’ll get right with God. Tomorrow, I’ll put God first in my life. Later, I’ll start spending more time with the Lord in prayer. Maybe when I get older, I will be more devoted. We put off eternal things, and we focus on temporary things.

\nWhy does Moses pray like this? Because he has come to the place in his life where he recognizes we need to get on God’s timetable and start understanding how life is brief and we need to spend it wisely. Don’t waste your life. And <\/i><\/span> so, we all begin as dust, but when we follow Christ, that changes, so we’re not just \u201cdust in the wind.\u201d

\nLook what it says in 1 Corinthians 15:46-49 (ESV) \u201cBut it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.\u201d Did you catch that? Here’s why Jesus came so that we wouldn’t just be \u201cdust in the wind.\u201d Yes, these bodies must pass away. They are built for this time. But, we are promised in Christ Jesus that we get a resurrection body like His.

\nThis is the centerpiece of Christianity, the resurrection of <\/i><\/span> Christ. That He died on the cross for our sins, in three days He lay in the tomb and on the third day the Father raised Him from the dead. He lives today and He promises that one day those who put their faith in Him will live forever and receive a resurrection body that is built for heaven and built for eternity.

\nDo you know this? This is what the Bible teaches, to spend our lives wisely. To spend our days wisely requires a shift of perspective. Just like you reset your clocks this morning to daylight saving time, we must reset our clocks to heavenly time and begin to see life from God’s perspective.\nVerse 12 is really the key to this whole sermon. It says, \u201cSo teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.\u201d That’s the \u201ckey under the doormat\u201d for understanding Psalm 90. We can understand that God is eternal and that in this life we are not eternal without Him. And so this <\/i><\/span> is what we’re looking at. Here’s the second way:

\nGod teaches us how to wisely spend our days by\u2026

\n2. \u2026 Acknowledging His holiness and our sinfulness.

\nThe first way is we understand his eternality and our mortality. Second, we acknowledge His holiness and our sinfulness. To acknowledge something means to agree with it, and then you recognize He’s holy. We are at verses seven through eleven. You will notice there’s a switch in the prayer where Moses begins to speak differently. He was talking towards God. You, You, You, You. Then, in verse seven, Moses transitions to the 1st person plural \u201cwe” and speaks of the reason behind man\u2019s mortality. He begins to talk about God’s anger and how it’s towards us now. That gives us trouble, doesn’t it?

\nI have people, especially someone who’s reading the Bible for the first time, maybe it’s someone who’s an agnostic and I’ve been sitting down with him and talking to him about <\/i><\/span> it. I ask him, Hey, have you ever actually read the Bible? I often find that somebody who says they’re agnostic or an atheist have never even read the Bible. They’re rejecting something that they don’t even know what it is. Sometimes when they read the Old Testament they will say, Wow, that’s an angry God, because they’re not understanding something about God. They’re not understanding His holiness and that sin is a rebellion against His lordship. Sin offends Him. Even as a pastor, as one who has studied God’s word for my life, I still don’t fully understand how holy God is because, even though I’m saved because of Christ, I still live in this body, this flesh, that still is tempted to sin. God is holy, and sin offends His holiness.

\nGod is also love. He wants to help us with that <\/i><\/span> problem so we can be redeemed but there’s this tension as long as we remain in our sin and a rebellion it causes, it triggers His just response, which the Bible calls wrath.

\nWhen you hear that word, \u201cwrath,\u201d you’re thinking of a man, because men are better at being angry. Although, I’m sure, ladies are good at being angry too, but men will express it. They will say horrible things that they don’t mean and will regret later. They will kick the dog. They will slam the door. They will punch something. This is human wrath but that’s not what we’re talking about. God’s wrath is not like man’s wrath. God’s wrath is under His control. He has perfect self control, and so His anger is His response to injustice.

\nDo you get angry when you see injustice when something that’s not fair happens in the world? This is called righteous anger. God gets angry at injustice and sin , <\/i><\/span> but He’s been holding it back. He has allowed death because death came in the door with sin and suffering but He’s holding back His ultimate wrath for the day of judgment. Wrath is already hanging over humanity now. He says this, in verse 7, \u201cFor we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed.\u201d We are dismayed. It’s already hanging over us like a cloud. Verse 8, \u201cYou have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.\u201d We don’t have secret sins with God, you can hide them from your mom and dad. You can maybe even try to hide them from your spouse. You can probably hide them from your boss most of the time and from your peers. But when you confess your sins to the Father, it’s never news to Him. He already knows. He already knows your sins.

\nIt says in Romans 2:5 (ESV) \u201cBut because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s <\/i><\/span> righteous judgment will be revealed.\u201d You know, there’s a day of wrath coming. It’s not here yet. Why is God letting this go? Why is He letting this evil happen in the world? If He were really a holy God, wouldn’t He fix this? He’s going to, but he’s shown patience, so that we would believe He’s held back his wrath. but it’s hovering over us.

\nI’m preaching the scripture. That’s what I do. Some of you are looking at me like, \u201cWow, this is heavy.\u201d Yeah, it is. But if you want to live so that your life is not like \u201cdust in the wind,\u201d you live wisely. Don’t waste your life because God’s judgment is coming.

\nBilly Sunday was a famous baseball player and he got saved and started being an evangelist. It\u2019s been about 100 years ago, I guess now. He started preaching, and one of his greatest sermons was \u201cPayday Someday.\u201d He used to talk <\/i><\/span> about some day is judgment day.

\nHere’s what Hebrews 4:13 (NIV) says about our sin, \u201cNothing in all creation is hidden from God\u2019s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.\u201d You can’t hide it from God; you can hide it from yourself, but you can’t hide it from God.

\nHe teaches us to be aware of why he’s angry toward our sin. In verse nine, \u201cFor all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.\u201d That’s your life; it ends with a sigh. When Jesus died on the cross, He took hold of the spikes that were driven through his hands, and He pressed down with his feet on the spike that was driven through His feet. The only way He could catch His breath was to pull up. He caught his breath one last time and He says, \u201cIt is finished,\u201d because He <\/i><\/span> had finished the race. He had paid His life on the cross for our sins. He finished His life with an exclamation point. He fulfilled the purpose that the Father had given him completely and to the utmost. Touchdown, it is finished. Literally, in the Greek, it means \u201cpaid in full.\u201d

\nMoses says that if we live, wandering in the wilderness, wasting our lives, just looking for a better tent and better food like the Israelites did in the wilderness, then our life will end like a sigh, without meaning. The King James version of the bible says our years are \u201cthree score and ten\u201d on average. I heard that, after 2020, the average American lifespan went down by one year. That’s the most that’s ever gone down in one year, I think, since maybe <\/i><\/span> World War two or before that. I had read that recently, that the average lifespan of Americans went backwards by one year.

\nMoses is talking about the average here; he says those lives are full of trouble. Jesus promised that, in this world, you will have trouble. Why? Because sin has infected the creation and since sin is in the world they’re suffering. And since there is suffering in the world, there’s injustice. And since there’s injustice, suffering and sin, there’s death; life looks meaningless.

\nThis is what Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, \u201cAll is vanity. Everything is meaningless under the sun.\u201d If you can’t look beyond the sun, nothing makes sense. But if you look beyond the sun, if you look to \u201cheaven time,\u201d if you look to the Lord and look toward what He says, then we’re more than \u201cdust in the wind.\u201d

\nThere is a question in verse eleven; he says, 11 \u201c Who considers the power <\/i><\/span> of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you?\u201d God is holding back His judgment.

\nYou might see something in politics that upsets you. You might see something that is happening in the world and you get angry. I’ve had so many people come to me for prayer and counseling in the last year because they are \u201ceaten up\u201d with anxiety because the world is out of control. (Note to self. It’s always been out of your control.) He’s God and you’re not . He’s got and I’m not. The year 2020 convinced us all that we weren’t paying attention, right? This question of considering that God is holding back His wrath, His day of judgment, is to give us time to get right with Him through Jesus.

\nHe is holding back His wrath. It seems like He should send a lightning bolt at that person for saying this or that. No, He’s holding back His wrath <\/i><\/span>. There is a day coming, so don’t waste your life. Don’t put it off to tomorrow because tomorrow might be the day of His coming.

\nIt says in Psalm 32:5 (ESV), David wrote, \u201cI acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, \u201cI will confess my transgressions to the Lord,\u201d and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.\u201d John wrote it like this, he says, 1 John 1:9 (ESV) \u201cIf we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\u201d

\nThe word, confess, has the idea of to say the same thing, to agree with God. Remember what I had said earlier, that you can’t hide any secret sins from God? So, when you confess your sin, it’s not like you are getting in trouble. It\u2019s not like God in heaven says, I didn’t know you did that. No. it’s not like that. He already <\/i><\/span> knew you did that. The problem is, you’re hanging on to it, and it’s doing harm to your soul.

\nIf you’re a born again believer, you cannot lose your relationship with Jesus because He keeps you. But, you can interrupt your fellowship because of unconfessed sin. Agree with God and say, God, that was a sin. I know You’ve already forgiven me through Jesus, but I need for You to cleanse me because in 1 John 1:9 (ESV) \u201cIf we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. \u201c Sometimes we need for Him to get the stain out. By acknowledging our sin, we trust in Christ, and this changes our status from \u201cdust in the wind\u201d to eternal children of God who live forever. We go, from those who are under God’s wrath, to those who can say, \u201cThere is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.\u201d How much condemnation, how much wrath is left for us? Zero. Where did it get spent? Because <\/i><\/span> God’s holiness demanded a price to be paid, He poured out His wrath on Jesus at the cross. \u201cThere is therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.\u201d

\nJust as the reign of judgment fell upon the earth and it fell upon the ark that Noah built, according to God’s word, he was with his family, safe within the ark, and the wrath rained down. He was found safe. Those in Christ have no condemnation; no one can condemn you.

\nJesus said to the woman, who was accused of committing adultery, \u201cWho’s condemning you now?\u201d She said, \u201cNo one.\u201d He said, \u201cNeither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.\u201d That is what He wants to bring to us. He wants to bring us out from under that condition, that status.

\nJohn writes this in John 3:36 (ESV) \u201cWhoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.\u201d In simple terms, for <\/i><\/span> those of us, like myself, who think simply, Got Jesus? Got life!

\nRemember the milk commercial some years ago? \u201cGot milk?\u201d There were famous people, with white moustaches, saying, \u201c Got milk?\u201d I say, Got Jesus? Got life! \u201cWhoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on Him. The judgment has already been decided; the day of judgment is in the future. If you have not received Jesus, the cloud of wrath is already on you, but it doesn’t have to be. Life doesn’t have to be meaningless. It doesn’t have to be like \u201cdust in the wind.\u201d God doesn’t want that from you. That’s why He sent Jesus. But, if you reject it, He will give you your free will and let you have the wandering years in the wilderness.

\nMoses is writing this, probably when he’s about 118 years old about two years before he dies. He’s reflecting back, I think, on what happened at Kadesh-barnea <\/i><\/span>. When they first came, they went from Egypt through the wilderness, and here they are. They’re getting ready to go into the Promised Land. And he goes, I’m gonna send 12 spies in one from every tribe. He sends twelve spies in to spy out the land. They spy out the land for 40 days. They come out, bringing fruit and different things from the land. They come to the Israelites and the Israelites say, Well, what was it like? Ten of them said they were like giants and we were like grasshoppers. There’s no way you should see their armies and their fortresses. Only two of them, Joshua and Caleb, said, No, we can do it by faith. God is going to give it to us. There was a majority of ten who put fear in the Israelites and the Israelites began to grumble, Let’s pick a new leader and go back to Egypt <\/i><\/span>. They rejected God’s leadership and they rejected God’s man. God said to Moses, Get out of the way, Moses. I’m gonna kill them all and start over with you. Moses says, Lord, if you do that, everybody in Egypt is going to say you just took us into the wilderness to kill us and your name will be tarnished. God says to Moses, Okay, here’s what’s gonna happen. I’m not going to do what I just said, but here’s what I am going to do. I’m gonna send you back into the wilderness to wonder, a year for every day that the spies spied out the land, they spied out the land for 40 days. I’m gonna make you wander for 40 years, and, in those 40 years, every one over the age of 20 is going to pass away. I’m going to take their <\/i><\/span> children into the promised land.

\nCan you imagine being Moses? There were approximately six million Jews at this time going through; it was not a small group of people. For everyone, over the age of 20, to pass away in those 40 years they left a trail of graves. One mathematician suggested seventy a day would have to die (365 days a year for 40 years) for that generation to die off. Moses had seen his share of death, but yet, he says, \u201cLord, who has considered your wrath,\u201d and then he moves on. Here\u2019s step three.

\nGod teaches us how to wisely spend our days by\u2026

\n3. \u2026 Seeking His blessings for our longings.

\nI’m glad we’re getting to this one, aren’t you? He gets to this final one; seeking His blessings for our longings. We are now at verses 12 through 17. There’s a shift again. This is a third shift. The first shift was towards God and reflecting about our lives compared to God. The second shift was more about us <\/i><\/span> and and how it looks with us under God’s judgment, apart from Christ. In the third shift, he begins to make requests. So, verse 12 through 17 are prayer requests. He begins with the key verse, I think, to the passage. Verse 12, \u201cSo teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.\u201d In other words, he basically says, Show us how to live and how to live wisely so that we don’t waste our life wandering for 40 years and not getting anywhere. All we were worried about for those 40 years was, I’m thirsty and I’m hungry. Okay? I’d like a better selection of food now. Could I get a nicer tent? I’d like a better car. I’d like a better house. I’d like better food. They were wandering aimlessly and then there was death, \u201cdust in the wind.\u201d Teach us, Lord, teach us as we go into the promised land . <\/i><\/span> Lord teach us to know to take every day as a gift from God and to live for his glory.

\nThen he says, in verses 13 and 14, 13, \u201cReturn, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants!\u201d 14 \u201c Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.\u201d You alone can satisfy us. You’re the only one who can satisfy us.

\nIt says in Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT) \u201cYet God\u2026 has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God\u2019s work from beginning to end.\u201d Why do we long for the eternal? If we were only creatures of evolution, creatures of blind chance and none of us ever live forever, then why would we long for the eternal ? There’s something inside of us that harkens, all the way back to the Garden of Eden, and God’s intent that He made us in His own image. Something inside of us wants to live forever. There’s an eternity set in their hearts, and the truth of the <\/i><\/span> matter is, we all, in a manner of speaking, live forever. Those that believe in Christ live forever with Christ in glory and have resurrection bodies like Christ. Those who choose to live their life apart from Christ will spend eternity in a place called hell. And so, there is a sense of the eternality of the human soul. This has been planted in our hearts.

\nVerse 14, \u201cSatisfy us with your steadfast love\u2026\u201d Steadfast love, in the Hebrew, is the word chesed. It could be considered the equivalent of the Greek word, agape. This word means \u201cGod’s kind of love, God’s faithful, His covenantal love. That’s the only thing that’s going to satisfy us; nothing in this world satisfies. God made us for Himself. Moses says, If you satisfy us with your love, it will be full of rejoicing and gladness all of our days.

\nVerse 15, \u201cMake us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.\u201d The trouble <\/i><\/span> we have had in our past, some of you are saying, Yeah, I wish I would have come to Christ at an earlier age. I understand that kind of thinking. I feel like I wasted this part of my life, you might say. Don’t worry about it. Say to God, Give me gladness and give me joy that I might rejoice.

\nVerse 16 says, \u201cLet your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.\u201d It\u2019s like Moses is saying, I saw You part the Red Sea. I saw You do those wonders in Egypt. I saw You bring water out of the rock and bring manna from heaven. I saw that, but I don’t want it to stop. I want to keep seeing You at work in Your creation. Not only that, I want our <\/i><\/span> children to see it.

\nGod, where are you at work right now? Show me, so I can join You there. Moses is saying, Keep working here, Lord. Otherwise this life means nothing. It’s like dust in the wind. It matters not. We end our lives like a sigh.

\nJesus, make our lives count. Let us see your work so we can join you there. Verse 17 says, \u201cLet 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!\u201d What is favor but grace. What is favor but the free gift. God, remove Your wrath from us and replace it with Your favor and grace. He’s already done that in Jesus.

\nThe bible says, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved,through faith.\u201d It’s the free gift of God. Bring favor upon us, Lord, and establish the work of our hands. In other words, make what we’re doing in this life matter.

\nHow is that possible, if we’re <\/i><\/span> like dust in the wind and everything blows away in the end? Whatever you do, by faith, will last for eternity. Only what’s done for Christ will last. Everything else will fade away. Why is that? Because He is the eternal one. So, if you live for God’s glory and you live your days focused on God, He says that He will establish the work of your hands. Don’t you want that? Don’t you want your life to matter? Don’t waste your life. Don’t waste your life. As Moses watched his people wander in the wilderness, he must have been thinking, You could have been in the promised land already. But no, you had no faith. All you ruled by was fear and desires for stuff in Egypt. You could have had it. You could have had meaning in your life, but you’ve ended your life like dust in the wind.

\nSaint Augustine of Hippo, said this in his book, Confessions: \u201cThou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.\u201d O <\/i><\/span> Lord our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You. We will never be satisfied until we know the one Who made us.

\nHave we learned to number our days? Apart from God, they’re like dust in the wind, but with Christ, we live forever. Let’s pray.

\nLord, this was a heavy sermon and a heavy word. But in order to be living wisely, Lord, we need to have a somber view of life. We need to understand it from Your perspective because You made us. Lord, we need to recognize that, apart from Christ, we’re facing judgment and eternity without Christ. This is not to scare anyone; it’s just to be wise. Lord, are you knocking on heart doors right now in this room? I know You are, Holy Spirit. Trouble people’s hearts right now that have just been wandering in the wilderness. Lord, help them to wake up. Would you wake up? Would you pray with me right now? If that’s you, here today, and <\/i><\/span> you want this meaning, this purpose, this joy and gladness, pray like this: Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner, but I believe You died on the cross for my sins and that You were raised from the grave and that you live today. Come and live in me. Forgive me of my sin and make me the person you want me to be. I want to be a child of God and I want to follow you. As you’re praying that, it’s not so much the exact words of the prayer, it’s the faith in your heart to say, I’m giving my life to you. I’m trusting you. If you’re praying, believing, the Bible says He will save you. Others are here and you believe in Jesus, you’re a follower, but you haven’t been living wisely. You’ve been wasting the gifts that God is giving you and only what’s done for Christ will last. We must take up the gospel. Would you confess it right now to the Lord <\/i><\/span> Lord, I no longer want to waste my days. It doesn’t matter if you’re 18 or 80. God called Moses at 80. Give your whole life to Him right now. Lord, I want You to be Lord of every area of my life. Make my life count in Jesus’ name. Amen.\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, we are inspired by the song, “Dust in the Wind,” by Kansas.<\/p>\n

Do you ever feel the way these lyrics suggest, like dust in the wind? Like nothing lasts? Even those of us who had never thought about the brevity of life, had to have given it some serious thought this past year. 2020 – the year of COVID 19. The year when half a million Americans died from a worldwide pandemic. But COVID only brought into view that which has always been true\u2013\u2013 we are mere mortals. We long to live forever, to live with some kind of purpose, to leave a lasting legacy, but we are like \u201cdust in the wind.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Psalm 90, Moses prayed that God would teach His people to wisely spend their days living for Him. We can see how God teaches us to wisely spend our days living for Him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9394,"template":"","tags":[],"series":[2817],"scripture-book":[1286],"scripture-chapter":[1423],"speaker":[2007],"class_list":["post-9433","message","type-message","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","series-seeing-the-sacred-in-the-secular","scripture-book-psalms","scripture-chapter-1423","speaker-gary-combs"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message\/9433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/message"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message\/9433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9433"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=9433"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-book?post=9433"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-chapter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-chapter?post=9433"},{"taxonomy":"speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speaker?post=9433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}