Number Our Days

Church, turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 90. If you're looking in one of the Pew Bibles,

that is page 465. Psalm 90. Let me read that. I'll read the whole psalm for us this morning.

A prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You return man to dust and say, return,

O children of man. For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past,

or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood. They are like a dream,

like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning it flourishes and is renewed.

In the evening it fades and withers. For we are brought to an end by your anger.

By your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins,

in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to

an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70 or even by reason of strength 80. Yet their span is

but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger?

And your wrath according to the fear of you. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart

of wisdom. Return, O Lord, how long have pity on your servants? Satisfy us in the morning with your

steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have

afflicted us for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious

power to their children. Let 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.

Well, once again, we're approaching the end of another year.

And this year is also the end of a decade. By this time next week, the second decade of the 21st century

will be history. That doesn't happen that often. Think for a moment about where you were a decade ago

at the end of 2009. Some of you weren't even here.

Or two decades ago, anticipating Y2K. Remember that?

Now, for many of us, this week between Christmas and New Year's is a time when we get a break.

We get a little break from the normal routines of school or work.

Maybe it's a time where we visit with loved ones or at least call or write to them from afar.

But I think it's also an appropriate time as we prepare to begin a new year and a new decade

to take stock of where we've been and where we're going.

Sometimes I think we can get so caught up in the day-to-day things that we can lose our spiritual focus.

We can lose sight of our priorities and purpose and perspective.

This week, I looked over the last 12 months of my Google Calendar.

That doesn't encapsulate all my life, but it reminded me of a lot of things that I had done over the last year.

It gave me many things to be thankful for, a longer list of things than I would have remembered on my own.

It helped me to begin thinking about how do I want to invest my time?

What are my priorities going into this coming year?

Well, this morning and next Sunday, we're going to look at two psalms

that can help us to close out another year and decade and begin a new one

by looking to our ever-present and ever-faithful and everlasting God.

This morning, we'll look at Psalm 90.

Next week, we'll look at Psalm 147, a song of praise.

And then in the second week of January, we'll begin a new sermon series

in the end of Luke's Gospel, Luke 19 to 24.

Last year, we looked at the middle of Luke's Gospel.

This year, we'll be looking at chapters 19 through 24.

So you can look forward to that in the new year.

But today, we're looking at this psalm, Psalm 90.

Now, you can organize or structure this psalm in a couple of different ways.

You can see it in terms of past, present, and future.

Verses 1 to 2, look back on the past.

Verses 3 to 12, face up to the present.

And verses 13 to 17, look forward to the future.

And that's a valid way of seeing the psalm.

And we'll sort of see that progression as we walk through it.

But another way of seeing the psalm is as a stairway.

Now, if you open up your bulletin to the center page, to the sermon notes page,

you'll see a diagram that looks like a stairway going down and then back up again.

So the psalm begins, as it were, on top of a mountain.

And then it leads us down into a dark valley.

And then it leads us back to the mountaintop.

And so this morning, I want to lead us through this psalm together.

For each section, for each step on the stairway, I'll point out a key word from the psalm.

Now, let me speak for a moment to all the children who are here.

I have a challenge for you.

I want you to listen for the key word in each section of the psalm

and write it down on the stairway in your bulletin.

Now, if you can't write yet, when you hear me say the key word or the next step on the stairway,

you can nudge one of your parents and say, write it down.

All right?

And your goal is to get all seven of the key words,

one on each step of the stairway, by the end of the sermon.

All right?

And then you can show it to your parents at the end of the service,

or show it to me, or whatever you want.

But that's your challenge, all right, for this morning.

And when we get to number seven, when we go down the stairway

and get back to the top, then the sermon's almost over.

All right?

So, here's the first one.

You get the first step on the stairway right away.

Verses one and two.

You notice the first step on the stairway is above.

It says V1-2.

That means verses one and two.

The key word is God.

And the main point of these verses is God has always been there.

Now, this psalm is a prayer of Moses.

Most likely, Moses wrote it in his old age,

after he had led the Israelites through the wilderness for many years.

There are some similarities between this psalm and the last words of Moses

recorded at the end of Deuteronomy in chapters 32 and 33.

So, for example, the psalm begins,

Lord, you have been our dwelling place.

And Deuteronomy 33, 27, Moses says,

the eternal God is your dwelling place.

Same word.

And underneath are the everlasting arms.

That's a wonderful thing to think about.

God is our home and holding us up by his everlasting arms.

But I want you to think about Moses' life for just a minute

and what it would mean for him to say God has been our dwelling place.

Think about how much of Moses' life he had spent

as a homeless man or as a wanderer

or as someone who was in between different places.

Right?

So, as a young child, Moses was adopted.

Now, he had a wonderful adoptive mother,

the daughter of Pharaoh himself.

He was well taken care of, but he was separated.

And he knew he was separated from his biological parents

and from his relatives.

And many of them were enduring great hardships.

Then, as a young adult, he did something very foolish and immature.

And it was impulsive and he had to flee.

He had to run away for his life.

And he spent many years in the land of Midian as a foreigner.

And then he goes back and, you know, leads people out of Israel.

But then where does he lead them to?

They're wandering in the wilderness.

You know, most of Moses' life was spent displaced, homeless, or wandering.

But Moses came to know and rest in the eternal God as his true home.

Through all of his wandering, through all of his homelessness,

through all of his being displaced and being in between,

he came to know my true home is found in the Lord.

Several years ago, I was talking to an older man who had become homeless.

He had lived in the Columbus house for several months.

And he said, during the time that I was homeless,

I learned what it means when the Bible says that God is a shelter.

He said that, you know, I'd known that, I'd known about that all my life,

but that took on a new meaning for me when I, through my experience.

Now, I wonder if you can look back on your own life.

You know, maybe you've never been homeless, or maybe you have been homeless,

but can you see through all the changes and chances

and all maybe the ways you've had to move from one place to another?

Maybe you feel sort of in between, not really settled here.

Can you see that the everlasting God has always been there?

Let me use a pulpit mic.

So that's where Moses begins this song.

By looking back on God's sheltering care over him.

And, not just over him, but over the people of Israel as a whole.

Lord, you've been our dwelling place.

He's speaking to the people.

You've led us through the wilderness.

You've been the one constant in a constantly changing world.

And he looks back even before, not just on his own life,

not just on the people of Israel's experience,

but he looks back all the way to the creation of the world.

Before the mountains were brought forth,

wherever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting,

you are God.

From eternity past, God has always been there.

And that's where Moses begins in this wonderful psalm with God.

But then Moses goes on.

He takes a step down the stairway.

And he goes on to the next section.

And the key word in verses 3 to 6 is dust.

People are dust.

You return man to dust.

So if verses 1 to 2 look back into the past upon God and his eternity,

verses 3 through 6 look squarely at the present,

at human mortality and transience.

Or you could say if verses 1 and 2 look back to the creation of the world in Genesis 1 and 2,

verses 3 to 6 look back to the consequences of the fall in Genesis 3.

The phrase translated children of man in verse 3

could just as well be translated children of Adam.

That word man is Adam.

And of course in Genesis 3 God says to Adam,

after he and Eve have sinned,

you are dust,

and to dust you will return.

So this psalm is reminding us

of the consequences of our fallen condition.

Now verse 4 goes on

and says a thousand years in God's sight are like yesterday

or even like less than a day.

A watch in the night.

Now Genesis tells us of a few human beings

who lived extraordinarily long lives.

But even the man who lived the longest, Methuselah,

did not make it to a thousand.

969.

You see, Moses' point here in verse 4

is that even the longest human lifespan,

is only a drop

in the giant stream of time.

Verses 5 and 6,

Moses uses three metaphors

to describe the shortness

and how quickly human life changes.

He says,

our lives are swept away

as in an overwhelming flood.

Our lives are like a dream

that vanishes

when morning comes

and is quickly forgotten.

Our lives are like grass

that quickly flourishes

and just as quickly perishes.

Human life is constantly being renewed,

but it's also constantly fading.

And you know,

the longer you live on this earth,

I think the harder it is

to deny or avoid these realities.

Yes, the world is constantly

being renewed and sustained,

but at the same time,

it's constantly decaying

and wearing out.

Our fresh ideals

will often be frustrated,

our new clothes

will eventually wear out,

even our very names

will one day be forgotten.

You know,

the vast majority of people

who have ever lived

on this earth,

their names,

their life stories

have been completely forgotten.

We may go around thinking

that we are so important

and so indispensable,

but the reality is

we will all one day die.

And the world can go on without us.

And all of our proud delusions

of grandeur and self-importance

will die with us.

And as we come to the end

of another year,

it's very important for us

to face this fact.

We don't really like to face this fact

in our society today,

but the Bible confronts us

and speaks very plainly to us

that we are mortal,

we will all die,

and life is transient.

That means it will change

very quickly.

Those are some of the most obvious

and undeniable facts

about the human condition.

All right,

we live in a world

that emphasizes statistics

and evidence-based outcomes

and information,

but have we reckoned with

the most consistently verified

statistic of all?

Every single human being

whom we have ever seen

or interacted with,

including ourselves,

will one day die.

We are dust.

And to dust we shall return.

So that's the second step.

But then Moses goes on

to the third step,

the next section,

verses 7 to 11,

and he takes us one step further

and he says,

why?

Why is human life

so fleeting and fading?

Why is our existence

so tenuous and transient?

Why are we constantly

wearing down and wearing out?

And the key word

in verses 7 to 11

is sin.

We are dust

because we are sinners.

And our sin

calls forth God's wrath.

Now,

that

is not a very popular idea.

The idea that we are sinners

and that our sin

calls forth God's anger

and righteous judgment

against us

is not

something you will

necessarily hear

today.

But the psalm

over and over

says

that it's true.

Verse 7,

we are brought to an end

by your anger.

By your wrath

we are dismayed.

Verse 9,

all our days pass away

under your wrath.

Verse 11

asks a question,

who considers

the power

of your anger

and your wrath

according to the fear

of you?

It's a rhetorical question.

In other words,

verse 11 is saying

most of us don't face

this reality.

Most of us

don't consider

the power

and the justice

of God's wrath

against sin.

Most of us

don't want to deal with that.

We don't have the resources

to deal with that.

And so we

just try to

not think about it

or deny it somehow.

But again,

the Bible confronts us

with this reality.

Now,

what is God's wrath?

We need to define

that word.

God's wrath

is not an arbitrary

fit of rage.

His wrath

is not just like

all kinds of human anger.

No.

God's wrath

is his righteous

displeasure

at our moral corruption.

In other words,

God looks at

the world.

He looks at

how human beings

deceive and oppress

and vilify one another.

He looks at

our greed

and pride

and self-centeredness.

He sees our

illusions

and our idolatries.

And God is not

pleased

with what he sees.

And God sees

not just the appearance,

but God sees on the heart.

And God is not,

God will not

simply enable us

to go on

and on

and on

and on

in our present state.

verse 8

tells us

that God sees

not just our

obvious sins,

our iniquities,

he also sees

our secret sins.

Which means

not just the sins

that we hide

from others,

but also the sins

that we hide

from ourselves.

You know,

most of us

are at least

partially blind

to our greatest

weaknesses

and flaws.

You want to know

how I can prove that?

look at almost

any marriage.

Almost inevitably,

one spouse

will identify

significant flaws

and weaknesses

in the other spouse.

Some spouses,

I see,

are laughing

because you get the point.

Which the other spouse

hardly recognizes

at all.

This will happen

sometime in your marriage

if it hasn't happened

already.

The question is

how will you deal

with these things

when they come to life?

light?

Will you harshly

throw them

in your spouse's face?

Or,

will you

be conflict avoidant,

turn away,

pretend they're not

really there,

but you sort of

know they're there,

but you don't want

to deal with them?

Or,

will you lovingly

and respectfully

express them

to your spouse?

And then,

when they come to light,

when they come to the surface,

will you respond

with denial

and indifference?

or with

some soul-searching

and seeking to grow?

You see,

the way you deal

with these things

will either strengthen

or strain

your marriage.

See,

marriage is intended

in part to be

a high-definition mirror

that reveals

the darkest depths

of your own soul.

Why?

Because God

designed marriage

to be a pale reflection

of the presence

of God,

the all-knowing,

all-seeing,

ever-present other.

Now,

marriage is also

intended to be

a window

into the steadfast

love of God.

Right?

That's also what

spouses are to embody

to one another,

is not only someone

who can call a spade

a spade

and tell it like it is

and can point out

the weaknesses

and flaws

that you're blind to,

but can also

stay with you

and love you

through them.

You see,

marriage,

like this psalm,

is intended to help us

face our deepest flaws,

face our most troubling

realities

in the presence

of someone who loves us

with unfailing love.

That's what this psalm

is doing too.

Right?

We've gone from

the mountaintop

looking back on God

and his eternity

down into the valley

of our present

human condition

that we are dust

because we are sinners.

And so in verse 12,

we come to the bottom

of the valley

and to the central prayer

of this psalm.

So teach us

to number our days

that we may get

a heart of wisdom.

The key word here

in verse 12,

wisdom.

Moses prays for wisdom.

And Moses is showing us

that we can only

gain true wisdom

when we face

our mortality,

that is our own,

that we'll die someday,

and our transience,

or not just transience,

and our sinfulness,

our mortality

and our sinfulness.

Right?

These are the most unpleasant

realities of our human condition,

but they're also

the most undeniable realities.

Tim and Kathy Keller

put it this way

in their devotional

on the Psalms.

They say,

if we do not face

these things,

we will not be wise.

We will be constantly

shocked

by what people,

including ourselves,

are capable of

and by how life

swiftly takes away

everything we love.

We will trust

in our own abilities

too much,

and we will seek

satisfaction in things

that we will inevitably lose,

face,

sin,

and death,

or be out of touch

with reality.

Those are strong words,

but according to the Bible,

wisdom is

getting in touch

with ultimate reality.

And so this psalm

leads us from the mountaintop

down into the valley

of the shadow of death

so we can get in touch

with reality,

that we can become

truly wise,

that we can see the reality

about God

and about ourselves.

But you know what?

The good news is

the psalm doesn't end here.

Psalm 90 doesn't leave us

down in the valley

of the shadow of death.

And if we only read up

to verse 11,

we might think that this psalm

is just a downer.

And we might even be tempted

to despair.

But once we've gone

all the way down

into the valley,

once we've faced

our mortality

and our sinfulness,

the path begins

to look up once again.

Why?

Because the God

of the Bible

is not only a God

of truth

and righteousness

and even wrath,

but he's also

a God of mercy

and steadfast love

and hope.

The Bible talks frankly

about death and sin,

but death and sin

do not have

the first or last word

in the Bible

nor in this psalm.

So we go on

to the next section,

verses 13 and 14,

and the key word

of this section,

step five,

the key word is

mercy.

God has mercy.

Return, O Lord,

how long have pity

or have mercy

on your servants.

Satisfy us in the morning

with your steadfast love.

Now these verses,

verses 13, 14, and 15,

echo and respond

to verses 3 through 11.

You see the steps

going down

sort of correspond

to the steps going up.

It's not an arbitrary structure.

So verse 3,

God says to humanity,

return to dust.

But here Moses cries out

in verse 13,

return, O Lord.

Return, O Lord,

to your people

and have mercy

on your servants.

In verses 5 and 6,

the grass is renewed

in the morning,

but by evening

it fades and withers.

But look at verse 14.

Moses says,

satisfy us in the morning

with your steadfast love.

And God's steadfast love

does not wither

and fade in the evening.

God's steadfast love

endures not just for a day,

not just for a lifetime,

but for all eternity.

And then in verse 9,

Moses says,

our days pass away

under your wrath

and our years come to an end

like a sigh.

But then in verse 15,

Moses prays

that we would have joy

for as many days

as you've afflicted us,

for as many years

as we have seen evil.

You see,

Moses believed

that the one true God

could somehow reverse

the cycle of death

and sin

that human beings

had fallen into

and can't get ourselves

out of.

And Moses believed

that God would hear

and respond

when his people

cried out to him.

But you know,

today,

we can see something

that even Moses couldn't.

We can see how God

responded to his people's cries

and we can see

how God intervened

to reverse

the cycle

of death

and sin

and wrath.

Right?

We just celebrated

the Christmas,

we're in the middle

of the Christmas season.

And what do we celebrate?

God has come

to us

with mercy.

In the person

of his son,

Jesus,

he has entered

into the darkest valley

of our human existence.

He did not just speak

to us

from the mountaintop

like he did

at Mount Sinai

in the Old Testament.

He has entered

into our darkest valley.

God became

a real human being,

Jesus Christ.

He embraced

our mortality.

and our transience.

He experienced hunger

and thirst

and weariness

and pain.

And even more than that,

he faced

the reason why

we,

our lives

were mortal

and transient.

He faced,

he bore the burden

that we could never bear

of our sin

and God's wrath.

God's life.

He died on the cross

offering his life

as a perfect sacrifice,

as an obedient sacrifice.

And he endured

God's righteous judgment

in our place

on our behalf

so that we

could be

set free

from it.

So that he could,

he came to meet us

in our darkest valley

so that he could bring

us back up

to the mountaintop

of eternal life

and joy

with God

forever.

That's what

Jesus came to do.

He came on a rescue

mission.

And he calls

all of us

to repent,

that is to forsake

our sin,

to leave behind

our self-centeredness

and to cling to him,

to trust in him

and look to him.

And he promises

that for everyone

who turns

to Jesus,

that our sins

will be removed

as far as the east

is from the west.

You see,

through Jesus

we can be brought

out of the valley

of death and sin,

raised with him

to new and everlasting

life with God.

And that's our hope.

Have you

turned to Jesus?

You can turn to him

today

and know his mercy.

Praise God

for his mercy.

God's mercy

lifts us up.

And then verse 15,

God's mercy

continues,

brings us to the next step

and the key word

is joy.

God's mercy

gives us joy.

Satisfy us

in the morning

with your steadfast love

that we may rejoice

and be glad

all our days.

Make us glad

for as many days

as you've afflicted us,

for as many years

as we've seen evil.

Brothers and sisters

in Christ,

as we look ahead

to this coming year

and even to the coming

decade,

we have a reason

to rejoice.

Why?

Most of all

because of the unchanging

gospel of Jesus Christ.

God demonstrated

his own love for us

in this,

that while we were

still sinners,

Christ died for us.

And his love

has been poured

into our hearts

through the Holy Spirit

whom he has given

to us.

Paul says,

since we've been

justified by faith,

we have peace

with God

through our Lord

Jesus Christ.

Christ.

We have access

by faith

into this grace

by which we stand

and, Paul goes on

to say,

we rejoice

in the hope

of the glory

of God.

Not only that,

but we rejoice

in our sufferings.

You see,

even amidst

our sufferings,

we can experience

joy.

Because when we

experience our

sufferings in union

with Jesus,

our sufferings

aren't in vain.

When we walk with

Jesus through affliction,

he promises to produce

in us endurance,

character,

and hope.

Maybe you're going

through afflictions

right now.

Whether it's

relational conflicts

or financial burdens

or physical illness

or emotional weariness

or trouble at work

or trouble at school,

almost all of us

will face afflictions,

difficulties,

trials,

in some form or other

in this coming year.

It's just part

of human life.

They're almost

unavoidable.

I mean,

they are unavoidable.

anyway,

at some level.

But think about it.

Are you experiencing

your afflictions

in union with Jesus?

That means,

are you asking Jesus

to do his good work

in you

despite and even

through the afflictions

you're experiencing?

Right?

Sometimes we're tempted

when we're going

through afflictions

just to sort of

be like a snail,

right,

that retreats

into its shell,

right,

and doesn't want

to come out.

Right?

Sometimes we're tempted

to sort of draw

back from the light

and the love

of Jesus.

And the invitation

is to draw near

to him

because he is near

to us.

He is walking

with you

through these afflictions.

You are not alone.

He even feels

for us

in our sufferings.

And he promises

that he can work

despite and even

through them

to accomplish

his good purposes.

Martin Luther

once said,

Affliction

is the best book

in my library.

Now,

Martin Luther

read a lot of books.

Some of us

like to read

a lot of books.

And that's good.

But Luther

says afflictions,

more than anything

else in this world,

can teach us

to become wise

if we walk

with Jesus

through them.

Well,

that brings us

to our last

key word,

verses 16 and 17.

The key word

is hope.

God's mercy

brings us joy

and that joy

fosters hope.

Now,

the word hope

doesn't actually

occur in the psalm,

but these last verses

express a confident

expectation

and anticipation

for the future.

Let your work

be shown

to your servants

and your glorious

power to their children.

Let the favor

or the beauty

of the Lord our God

be upon us.

And then twice,

the psalmist

repeats the last line.

He says,

Twice,

establish

the work

of our

hands.

You see,

the first half

of the psalm,

that stairway down,

focuses on

our human limitations

in light of

God's greatness.

And it leads us

to humility.

Our life is fleeting

and fading.

We will all

one day die.

We are far more

deeply flawed

than we ever dared

to admit,

and we deserve

God's righteous judgment.

Those are all

humbling truths.

And God knows

that we need

to be humbled.

But the second half

of the psalm

focuses on the

transforming power

of God's love,

God's mercy

that brings us

joy and hope,

hope for eternity

and hope

for each day.

You see,

the downward

part of the

stairway

is meant

to humble us,

but the upward

part of the

stairway

is meant

to give us

hope,

even when we're

down in the

darkest valley.

Hope for each

day.

The apostle Paul

wrote,

1 Corinthians 15,

58,

Therefore,

my beloved

brothers and

sisters,

be steadfast,

immovable,

always abounding

in the work

of the Lord,

knowing that

in the Lord

your labor

is not in vain.

Now,

Paul says this

at the end

of an entire

chapter about

our future

hope.

He talks about

the bodily

resurrection of

Jesus and

especially the

future bodily

resurrection promised

to believers at

the end of the

age.

But then he

brings that hope

into the present

day.

At the end

of the chapter,

he says,

remember,

your labor

in the Lord

is not

in vain.

You know,

sometimes we

can look at

the world

around us,

especially if

we spend a

lot of time

reading news

headlines,

and we can

be tempted

to throw

up our

hands in

frustration.

We see

decay and

decline,

and we

are just

annoyed by

it.

Or sometimes

we look at

ourselves,

we look at

our own

lives,

we see

the years

passing by,

perhaps

longings yet

unfulfilled.

Perhaps our

bodies are

growing weaker,

or our

future prospects

are growing

dimmer.

Maybe we

look back

with some

regret or

disappointment.

But those

are opportunities

to look to

Christ and

find hope

in him.

An old hymn

says this,

swift to its

clothes ebbs

out life's

little day.

Earth's

joys grow

dim,

its glories

pass away,

change and

decay in

all around

I see.

But then

the hymn

writer says,

O thou

who changest

not,

abide with

me.

And then

he goes on

and says,

I need thy

presence every

passing hour,

what but your

grace can

foil the

tempter's

power,

who like

thyself my

guide and

stay can be

through cloud

and sunshine,

Lord,

abide with

me.

And then

he goes on

to a verse

of triumphant

confidence in

the face of

uncertainty.

He says,

I fear no

foe with thee

at hand to

bless.

Ils have

no weight

and tears

no bitterness.

Where is

death's sting?

Where grave

thy victory?

I triumph

still if thou

abide with

me.

Right?

If we are

remaining with

Jesus, if he

is abiding in

us, then our

labor in the

Lord is not

in vain and

we can look

to the future

and to

eternity and

to each

day with

hope.

Charles Spurgeon

wrote this,

God will never

suffer this

world, which

has once seen

Christ's blood

shed upon it

to be always

the devil's

stronghold.

Christ came

here to

deliver this

world from

the sway of

the powers

of darkness.

One day,

men and

angels shall

unite to cry,

hallelujah,

hallelujah,

for the

Lord God

omnipotent

reigneth.

What a

satisfaction it

will be in

that day to

have had a

share in

the fight,

to have

aided in

winning the

victory for

our Lord.

Happy are

they who

trust this

conquering

Lord and

who fight

side by

side with

him, doing

their little

in his

name and

by his

strength.

Someone sent

me that

quotation this

week and

he added

this,

blessed to

be able to

do some

of our

little in

his name

together.

Isn't

that why

God has

put us

here as

a church?

Sometimes

it seems

like a

little thing,

our efforts

seem small

and our

successes

seem modest,

but God

says he

is with

us.

And he

has called

us together

to labor

side by

side for

Christ's

sake and

to do

our little

in his

name together

so that

his work

might be

shown to

our city

and his

glorious

power to

our children

and his

favor would

rest upon

us.

And by

his grace

he might

establish

the work

of our

hands.

Jesus

promised

that if

we abide

in him

that he

will enable

us to

bear fruit

that will

last.

To the

glory of

the Father.

So brothers

and sisters

may we end

this year

and begin

a new

one with

humility

and with

hope.

Let us

pray.

God

I'm going

to close

by reading

the prayer

for the

new year

that's

written

in the

bulletin.

This was

written a

couple of

hundred

years ago

and expresses

the humility

and the hope

that we see

in this

psalm.

So as I

lead us

in prayer

let's take

this opportunity

to entrust

ourselves

and this

coming year

to our

good and

faithful

Savior.

Oh love

beyond compare

you are good

when you give

when you take

away.

When the sun

shines upon me

when night

gathers over me

you have loved

me before the

foundation of the

world and in

love you

redeemed my

soul.

You love me

still in spite

of my hard

heart in

gratitude

distrust.

Your goodness

has been with

me another

year leading

me through a

twisting wilderness

in retreat

helping me

to advance

when beaten

back making

sure headway.

Your goodness

will be with

me in the

year ahead.

I hoist

sail and

draw up

anchor

with you

as the

blessed pilot

of my

future

as of my

past.

I bless

you that

you have

veiled my

eyes to

the waters

ahead.

If you

have appointed

storms of

tribulation

you will be

with me

in them.

If I have

to pass

through tempests

of persecution

and temptation

I shall not

drown.

If I am to

die I will

see your

face the

sooner.

If a painful

end is to

be my lot

grant me

grace that

my faith

fail not.

If I am to

be cast

aside from

the service

I love I

can make

no stipulation.

Only glorify

yourself in

me whether

in comfort

or trial

as a chosen

vessel always

fit for your

use.

We pray these

things in

Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.