Psalm 90:11-12

“Who knows the power of your anger? Even according to your fear, so is your wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom!”

This Psalm is entitled, “A prayer of Moses the man of God.” It seems to have been written by Moses on account of the judgment denounced against the whole nation of Israel, that they should die in the wilderness, verse 3. It had been already executed to a great extent, God having consumed multitudes of them in his anger, verses 5-7; and the period of man’s life was then reduced to its present standard of seventy or eighty years, verse 10. From this awful demonstration of God’s displeasure, he is led to this solemn reflection, “Who knows the power of your anger?” And then he prays, that the whole nation might be induced by the shortness and uncertainty of their lives to seek without delay the favor of their offended God, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

In accordance with our text let us also contemplate:

I. The inconceivable weight of God’s anger.

Of course, in speaking of God’s anger we must divest it of all those tumultuous feelings, which agitate the minds of men; and conceive of it as manifested only in his dispensations towards the objects of his displeasure.

Let us contemplate it then,

1. God’s wrath as it appears in this world.

The whole world bears the evidence of being under the displeasure of an angry God. The creation itself, even the animal and vegetable parts, as well as the rational parts of it, is greatly changed since it came out of its Creator’s hands. A curse has been inflicted on it all, on account of sin. Storms, and tempests, and earthquakes, and pestilences, and diseases of every kind, and death with its antecedent pains and its attendant horrors, are all the sad fruits of sin, and the effects of God’s anger on account of sin. Death has obtained a universal empire, and “reigns even over those who have never sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression,” as well as over the actual transgressors of God’s law.

But the anger of God is yet more strikingly visible, in those particular judgments which God has executed upon men from time to time.

Behold the plagues in Egypt, the destruction of the Egyptian first-born, and of Pharaoh and all his host in the Red Sea!

Behold the awful judgments inflicted on Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and on the myriads—who, by their lewdness, their unbelief, and their murmurings, drew down the wrath of God upon them! 1 Corinthians 10:8-10.

Behold fire and brimstone rained down from Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain! Yes, and the whole world, with every living creature except those contained in the ark, swept away by one universal deluge!

These serve as solemn proofs of God’s indignation against sin, and his determination to punish it according to its deserts.

There are other proofs, less visible indeed, but not less real, of God’s anger, which may be found in the horrors of a guilty conscience, or the distresses of a soul that is under the hidings of his face.

Hear what was Job’s experience under a sense of God’s displeasure, “The arrows of the Almighty are within me; the poison whereof drinks up my spirit; the terrors of God set themselves in array against me! Job 6:4.”

To the same effect the Psalmist also speaks, when describing the anguish of his own mind, “Your arrows stick fast in me, and your hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh because of your anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day. I am feeble and sorely broken; I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart, Psalm 38:2-3; Psalm 38:6; Psalm 38:8.” The unhappy end of Judas shows how insupportable is a sense of God’s wrath, when the consolations of hope are altogether withdrawn.

But, after all, there is nothing that will give us such a full display of God’s anger, as a view of the Lord Jesus Christ when “Jehovah’s sword awoke against him” to inflict the penalty that was due to sin! Behold that immaculate Lamb of God sweating great drops of blood from every pore of his body, through the inconceivable agonies of his soul! Hear him in the depths of unspeakable suffering, crying, “My God. My God! Why have you forsaken me?” See him finally, dying under the load of his people’s sins! Could we at all appreciate this mystery, we should indeed say, “Who knows the power of your anger?”

But let us contemplate it,

2. God’s wrath as it appears in the world to come.

Of this however we can form but little conception. The terms which are used to depict the misery of the fallen angels, and of those who from among the human race have died in their sins, though exceeding terrible to the imagination, fall infinitely short of the reality.

But the very circumstance of millions of once happy angels, as happy as any that are now before the throne of God, being cast out of Heaven for their pride; and Hell itself being prepared by Almighty God for their reception, that they may there endure his wrath and indignation to the uttermost. This very circumstance, I say, may serve to show how deeply God abhors iniquity, and how fearfully he will punish it.

Of the place where they are confined “in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day,” Tophet, as described by the Prophet Isaiah, may be considered as a type or emblem, “It is a place both deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; and the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it! Isaiah 30:33.” And the state of the unhappy sufferers there is thus described in the Revelation of John, “They will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night.” Revelation 14:10-11.”

Yet, as terrible as this description is, it conveys no adequate idea either of the torment itself, or even of those foretastes of it, which are sometimes given to those for whom it is prepared. Well therefore may it be asked, “Who knows the power of your anger?” and well is it added, “According to your fear,” that is, according to the terror which the very apprehension of it excites, “so is your wrath;” for, in truth, it not only equals, but infinitely exceeds, all the conceptions that can be formed of it.

The whole scope both of the preceding and following context leads us to consider,

II. The wisdom of seeking reconciliation with God without delay.

Notwithstanding his anger against sin, God is willing to be reconciled to sinful people.

“He will not always chide; neither will he keep his anger forever.” “Many times did he turn away his wrath from his people in the wilderness; and did not allow his whole displeasure to arise.”

He has even sent his own Son into the world to effect reconciliation by the blood of his cross. He could not consistently with his own honor pardon sin without an atonement made for it; and, that a sufficient atonement might be made, he gave his Son to “bear our iniquities in his own body on the tree,” and to “be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” For the fallen angels he made no such provision; but for us he did; and he sends forth his servants into all the world, to proclaim his offers of mercy, and to “beseech sinners in his name to be reconciled to him”.

To seek reconciliation with him then is our true wisdom.

The world may account it folly, and may stigmatize all serious piety as needless preciseness; but we hesitate not to declare with David, that “the fear of the Lord is the very beginning of wisdom, Psalm 111:10;” and that the prodigal’s return to his father’s house was an evidence, not, as his ungodly companions would say, of weakness and folly, but of his having attained a soundness of mind and judgment; for it was “when he came to himself he said, I will return, and go to my father!”

Who that reflects upon the inconceivable weight of God’s anger, and on the misery of those who are exposed to it, would continue one moment liable to it, when God is offering him pardon, and beseeching him to accept of all spiritual and eternal blessings?

But add to this, the shortness and uncertainty of human life. Who that considers this, would delay to deprecate God’s wrath, and to avail himself of the present hour to secure the offered mercy? O beg of God to impress your minds with a sense of the shortness of time, and to “teach you so to number your days, that you may without delay, apply your hearts unto wisdom.”

As obvious as this lesson is, you can never learn it, unless you are taught of God. You will be ever calculating upon months and years to come, when “you know not what a single day may bring forth.” You may even, like the Rich Fool, be promising yourselves “years of ease and pleasure,” when God may have said, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you! Luke 12:19-20.” To turn unto God instantly is true wisdom; to put it off to a more convenient season—is pure folly and madness, “Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, Psalm 119:60. Hebrews 3:7-8.”

But, to this work you must “apply with your heart”—your whole heart.

It is not by seeking merely, but by “striving, to enter in at the strait gate,” that you are to obtain acceptance with your God Luke 13:24. You must “apply your heart” unto wisdom; and “whatever your hand finds to do, you must do it with all your might! Ecclesiastes 9:10.”

ADDRESS.

1. Those who make light of God’s wrath.

There are, alas! too many who do this. As David says, “Psalm 10:4-6 In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. His ways are always prosperous; he is haughty and your laws are far from him; he sneers at all his enemies. He says to himself: Nothing will shake me; I’ll always be happy and never have trouble! Psalm 10:4-5;” and, with atheistic impiety, “says in his heart, God will not do good; neither will he do evil, Zephaniah 1:12.”

But consider, brethren, whether you will think so lightly of God’s judgments when you shall have begun to feel the weight of them? Think whether, on first opening your eyes in the invisible world, and beholding the face of your incensed God, you will not bewail your present supineness, and curse the day when you listened to the dictates of sinful men, instead of attending to the counsels of true wisdom? O! think, “Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger! Nahum 1:6.” “Who can dwell with everlasting burnings! Isaiah 33:14.”

I beg you to number your days, not as the world does, but as God directs you; and to consider every day as if it were to be your last! This, with God’s blessing, will stir you up to redeem the present time, and will put energy into your exertions in “fleeing from the wrath to come.” Whatever your age may be, my advice is still the same; for “you know not whether your Lord will come in the evening, or at midnight, or before the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning.” “Knowing the terrors of the Lord, I would persuade you! 2 Corinthians 5:11;” and “what I say unto one, I say unto all, Watch!”

2. Those who are in a state of reconciliation with him.

Doubtless there are many among you, who can say with the church of old, “Though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away, and you comfort me! Isaiah 12:1.” To you then I would say, “Who knows the power of God’s love? According to your hope, even your most optimistic hope, so is his mercy!” Yes, and infinitely above all that either men or angels can conceive.

Compare your state with that of those who are now lifting up their eyes in the torments of Hell; and say whether eternity itself will suffice to express your obligations to Him who has redeemed you by his blood, and to the Father who has accepted that atonement in your behalf! O! bless your reconciled God without ceasing. Labor to count, if it were possible, the riches of his grace; and to explore “the height and depth and length and breadth of his incomprehensible love.” And let the stupendous mercy given unto you, quicken you to every possible expression of gratitude to your adorable Benefactor!

Charles Simeon