A Heart of Wisdom

I wonder if God might view humanity’s striving in the way a parent views the earnest pursuits of a toddler. From our perspective, the efforts of others as they build wealth, power, or significance can leave us dazzled or intimidated. But from God’s perspective, even the lifespan of a whole nation could be likened to a tower of building blocks stacked in the middle of a playroom, here one minute, gone the next.

Psalm 90 holds up a spotlight on the contrast between us and God:

We are of dust; God is divine.

Our days are numbered; God’s reign has no end.

We are laden with sin; God is perfect in holiness.

While the span of 1000 years, much less our lives, is paralleled to the life cycle of a blade of grass that grows in the morning and fades by night, Psalm 90 declares God’s enduring nature in comparison: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God (Psalm 90:2).”

Written by Moses after Israel’s wandering in the desert and passing away of a generation as a result of their disobedience, Psalm 90 proclaims this: our greatest efforts amount to nothing compared to the greatness of our God, and our most perfect performance forever falls short before God and his holiness.

While at first glance, the statements of this Psalm might come off as depressing – such as “you return man to dust” or “you sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream” – could it be that accepting our frailty is not a dead-end at despair but rather a pathway to life? Could it be that adopting the perspective of God actually delivers us the liberation we crave?

I think about the effects of viewing my own life with a distorted perspective. My hunger for significance causes my work to often be infiltrated with stress, and my longing to have a “happy family” often leads me to be anxious or controlling. My perfectionist desire to have my life together leaves me weighed down with shame and despondency when I struggle or fail.

But acknowledging that God alone has the power to bring forth meaning and significance from my life actually unburdens me from the pressure I so often take on. Accepting that God’s grace alone can make me enough releases me from the never-satisfied pursuit of perfection. The message of Psalm 90 invites me to accept my need, and in light of Jesus’s death and resurrection, it draws me to live from Christ’s surpassing power!

It is only as we humbly depend on God that we are equipped with the proper perspective to live. “Teach us to number our days,” the Psalmist prays, “That we may get a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12).” When we humbly surrender our efforts into the hands of God, depending upon his power and grace, we can trust that our lives will grow full with eternal meaning and spiritual fruit.

Though our lives are but a passing breath before God, God covers them with his mercy and fills them with great meaning and purpose. Through Christ, our lives are redeemed, and we live out this redemption through faithful reliance on him.