That even the most educated people struggle with
Drawn from Psalm 90:10-12
Text:
“The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away… So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” — Psalm 90:10,12 KJV
This is the only Psalm written by Moses — the most educated man in Egypt in his day. Acts 7:22 says, “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” He could count stars, calculate seasons, engineer pyramids, lead armies. Yet at 120 years old, looking back over the desert graves of a whole generation, this genius makes a strange prayer:
“Lord, teach us to number.”
It is humbling. The man who could number everything else finally realized he had failed to number the most important thing — his own days.
PART ONE: UNDERSTANDING — Why The Smartest People Fail This Math
Psalm 90:10-12 gives us three profound truths about this divine mathematics.
- Life is Measured, Not Endless (v.10)
“The days of our years are threescore years and ten…”
Moses says life is not an open-ended ocean; it is a contained jar. 70 years. Perhaps 80 by strength. Whether you are a professor or a fisherman, you have roughly 25,550 to 29,200 days.
The most educated people struggle here because education creates an illusion of limitlessness. Degrees make us feel infinite. Success makes us feel invincible. We talk about “someday” — someday I will pray more, someday I will forgive my father, someday I will start that ministry, someday I will repent.
But the Hebrew word for “days” in v.12 is yowm — not years, not decades — days. God counts in days. We count in years. That is our error. We think in decades and lose days.
A billionaire can calculate compound interest to the 10th decimal, but cannot calculate that he has only 15,000 days left. A Ph.D. can count the years of civilization but forgets to count his own.
- Life is Brief, Not Just Busy (v.10b)
“…yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
Life is not just short; it is swift. The phrase “soon cut off” in Hebrew is gaz — to snap, like a thread cut by scissors. And “we fly away” — uph — like a bird startled from a branch.
Even the best years — the strong years, the 80 years — are marked by amal and aven. Even achievement is tiring.[labour][toil][sorrow][vanity]
Education teaches us to add — add knowledge, add titles, add money, add followers. God teaches us to subtract. Every day lived is one day less. The calendar does not add; it subtracts.
The world teaches you to count UP — your money, your age, your influence. God teaches you to count DOWN — how many days remain to do His will.
- Wisdom is Applied, Not Just Acquired (v.12)
“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
This is the climax. The word “teach” is yada — to cause us to know intimately, experientially. Moses is saying: “Lord, we know how to count. Make us feel the count.”
And the purpose is shocking: “that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
Notice, he does not say “that we may apply our minds to knowledge.” He says hearts to wisdom.
The Hebrew for “apply” is nabi — to bring in, to make arrive. And “wisdom” is chokmah — not IQ, but skillful living, seeing life from God’s perspective.
Educated people gain knowledge in the head. God wants wisdom in the heart. Knowledge says: I have 70 years. Wisdom says: Therefore, how shall I live today?
To number your days is not to be morbid. It is to be motivated. The person who knows his time is short stops wasting it.
PART TWO: APPLICATION — How to Practice The Numbering Lesson Daily
Moses gives us not a theory, but a prayer. “Teach us.” This is a skill we must learn from God. Here are three daily exercises:
- Begin Your Day with Subtraction, Not Addition.
Most of us begin with a To-Do list — what we will add today. The wise begin with a Time-Left list.
Practice: Every morning this week, before you check your phone, pray: “Lord, this is one of my numbered days. I do not know how many I have left. Show me what counts today.”
Write at the top of your diary: Today is Day # __ of my remaining days. I will not get it back.
This one habit will kill procrastination. You stop postponing obedience when you realize time is not renewable. You don’t get extra days like you get extra data.
Question for Reflection: If I knew I had only 100 days left to live, what would I stop doing today? What would I start doing today?
- Convert Your Days Into Deposits.
We count money, but we waste days. Moses says to number days so that your heart becomes wise — meaning, you invest days, not just spend them.
Every day is a currency. You can spend it, or you can invest it.
Spent days are lived for self: pleasure, grudges, endless scrolling, gossip.
Invested days are deposited into things that outlive you: a soul won, a child discipled, forgiveness given, Christ made known.
Practice: At night, ask two questions:
a) What did I do today that will matter in 100 years?
b) Whose eternity is better because I lived today?
The most educated people in Jesus’ day were Pharisees. They could count the letters of the Torah, but they never counted the days they had to receive their Messiah. Don’t make that mistake.
Question for Reflection: If God audited my last 7 days like an accountant audits a budget, where did my time actually go?
- Live Ready to Fly.
Moses says, “we fly away.” The ultimate numbering lesson is that death is not a period; it is a comma. You fly somewhere.
The unwise live as if this life is all there is, so they clutch everything. The wise live ready to fly — light, loose, and longing for home.
To number your days is to prepare for your last day.
Practice: Live each day with three “readies”:
Ready to Meet God: Is there unconfessed sin? 1 John 1:9
Ready to Make Peace: Is there someone I need to forgive or ask forgiveness from? Matthew 5:23-24
Ready to Leave a Legacy: If I flew away today, what would my children remember about my faith?
A man who numbers his days doesn’t need a coffin to teach him what matters. He learns it while he is still alive.
Closing Prayer
Father, forgive us. We have learned to number money, degrees, and followers, but we have failed to number our days.
Moses, the most educated man of his time, had to ask You to teach him this. Teach us too.
Teach us that life is measured, so we stop living carelessly.
Teach us that life is brief, so we stop living selfishly.
Teach us to apply our hearts to wisdom, so we stop living wisely in our heads but foolishly in our hearts.
Today is a numbered day. Help us invest it for eternity.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.